Glacier of White Lilies
by SnowLili
Summary: The offspring started their own journey. Shikadai was still oblivious to his burdens and responsibilities. Inojin was trapped in the web of uncertainty and insecurities. Chouchou was struggling with her own identity. With the mysteries ahead unfold, will they be able to find a path to their own future? Bring in Sarada, Boruto and Mitsuki and the adventure ensures!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Naruto grunted noisily, slouching on his desk as he glared at the papers in front of him as if those white sheets had done the biggest crime ever in Konoha after years since the Fourth Shinobi World War. But nope, the sheets were just the Ninja Academy Graduation result. Result! And his son had graduated, surprisingly with flying colors. He always thought Boruto wasn't serious at becoming a ninja considering how he had despised Naruto's position as a Hokage. He always needed to remind his son over and over again about that. But Boruto wasn't the one that troubled Naruto at the moment.

Naruto's eyes darted down to the name sitting at the bottom list—the last place in the Academy Graduation Exam. Naruto groaned again. That was exactly the name that made him sit uneasily since he got hold of the sinful papers. Nara Shikadai. What the fuck! Of all the students there in their academy, why must Shikadai's marks sat in the last place? He was the Nara heir—the son of Shikamaru and Temari for God's sake! There was no way in hell he can be anywhere near stupid! But hell, Naruto knew where this led them. Shikadai is just as ignorant as his father. When he first knew Shikamaru, he never thought of Shikamaru as anyone clever, let alone genius. His marks were just around his, and for the whole time during their childhood, he believed Shikamaru was just with him in the list of dropouts. It wasn't until Shikamaru was being the first to be promoted to Chuunin that he finally understood what lies beneath the Nara boy—or man now.

But then again, that was exactly Naruto's problem now. Shikamaru had Asuma to lead him and build up his sense of responsibility. Asuma was doing great at that. And today Shikamaru had grown into a splendid responsible shinobi that Konoha cannot do without. He was the Hokage's advisor, the Shinobi Union member, and informally the one in charge of public relations with Sunagakure. So here lies the question that had been troubling Naruto.

Who would be the next 'Asuma'?

The sound of knock on his office pulled him out of his reverie. He sat up properly, turning to his laptop again as he voiced his permission for whoever that was to enter. Shikamaru stepped in. And Naruto groaned again.

"Shikamaru, is this troublesome attitude of yours kinda like hereditary?" Naruto immediately complained at the sight of his close friend.

"Huh?" Shikamaru looked at him cluelessly.

"This!" Naruto shoved the papers slightly on his desk. "It's obvious that your son is faking his intelligence."

Shikamaru approached the table, giving a glance at the result before shrugging. "Are you sure you're not overestimating him? He might not be a genius or anything."

Naruto scowled playfully. "Don't give me that excuse. I know exactly what he's capable of. When our kids were still babies, Shikadai was even the first to speak his first word!"

"Naruto," Shikamaru clicked his tongue in annoyance. "You don't seriously regard a baby's ability to talk as something intelligent, do you?"

"Well, what else would that mean?"

"Temari was just so adamant at talking to him, that's all," Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Now where's Shino. I wanna get this done and over with—"

"I'm here."

Shikamaru and Naruto jumped at the voice from the corner of the room.

"Shino!" Naruto groaned again. "Would you stop being a creep and come in from the door?"

"Considering you can sense anyone coming, I figured it would be the same as to come in from the window," Shino's flat tone was still the same as always.

"Since when were you here?"

"Since you were slouching distractedly at the results."

Before Shikamaru came, huh. Naruto jutted out his lips in complaint, turning his head away as he took the papers. "So now that we're here, let's discuss the teams. As well as the Jounins that will be in charge of them."

His sulky tone didn't go unnoticed by Shikamaru and the Nara head had to snicker a bit. These two had never really changed. "Are we going about the grades this time?"

"I think we can put Shikadai, Inojin and Chouchou in a team by default. What troubles me with this team is, who will be the Jounin in charge of them?" Naruto wrote something on the paper, assigning the three into a team before lifting his head back to face Shikamaru. "And correct me if I'm wrong, Shikamaru. But if the affair with Gaara was true, then there is a possibility that Shikadai might be the next Kazekage?" his eyes squinted in uncertainty.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head. "That might be the case but I believe with the peace the world is currently blessed with, I can see that it won't happen soon. In fact, it might not even happen at all."

"The keyword is 'might'. We can't say for sure so I suggest we be on the safe side," Naruto tapped his index finger on his desk to make a point. "We need a good Jounin to guide these three. One that we can really trust who would be able to turn them into an adult. This issue is vital to both Konoha and Suna."

"Their family jutsu combination is more like a tactical infiltration approach. Someone specialized in that would be good," Shino suggested.

"It doesn't have to be someone from the same field per say. Asuma sensei wasn't exactly the tactical infiltration ninja either. What we need is someone who can actually bring out the best in them. Someone who can see past their façades without judging anything and have a strong will. You know how it is with their family," Naruto explained.

Shino had been raking through his mind at the description of a Jounin that Naruto had given them. "Someone who has a good view in life and is not judging—"

"I would have suggested Lee but he already is in charge of a team," Shikamaru said. He didn't feel compelled to participate in this one, as he was the father of Shikadai himself. He would let Shino and Naruto decide.

But his suggestion opened the path for Naruto anyway. "No, if Lee can't then we can have Kiba."

"Kiba?"

"He is in the lead of tracking technique, and he had experienced of being around the same ground as the boys. I think it would be best for him to lead as he probably knows how the kids feel about it," Naruto's eyes seemed determined.

"I don't mind actually. Since Ino had been training them jutsu wise, so the rest is up to their Jounin leader," Shikamaru added.

"Right, so we settled one team," Shino said. "Let's move on to another."

* * *

"Why am I in the same team as you two?" Sarada's eyes squinted, half glaring at the two boys sitting in front of her.

"How would I know? Besides, this would be fun. Right, Mitsuki?" Boruto nudged his best friend. Mitsuki was leaning his back on the chair, arms folded on his chest in a relaxing manner—totally not convincing for Sarada. They were just teamed up by Shino and currently waiting for their assigned Jounin who would be in charge of them.

Sarada groaned in annoyance. "You guys just do not understand. This is important to me! I want to be the Hokage! I can't laze around with fun things!"

"And whoever said we're not serious about this?" Mitsuki smirked with his all-knowing smile that Sarada hated so much. "Having fun doesn't mean we're not serious. We're just taking our job seriously but in a fun way."

"You don't get it."

"You're right, I don't," Boruto interrupted. "For an Uchiha to actually want to be Hokage, wasting time taking care of other people without taking care of their own family? That's just bullshit," he scoffed.

Sarada's face contorted at his words. She wanted to retort as much as she could, but her lips remained tight. Protest evidenced all over her face, but Boruto rested his elbow on the table as if he wasn't bothered.

"Then? What about your best friend? That Akimichi girl?" Mitsuki probed, partially trying to dissolve the apparent tension between the two.

"Chouchou? She's teaming up with Shikadai and Inojin. Shikadai and Inojin are best friends anyway like the two of you. Ugh, why can't kunoichi be in the same team?" she wailed dramatically.

* * *

"No, seriously. You guys are being so not gentleman. You don't go around asking girls to sit on the ground without laying a blacket or jacket or anything. Do you have any idea how many boys around Konoha who actually liked me and you are just lucky to be in a team with me," Chouchou was nagging about how the boys were accommodating themselves so nicely up on the tree branch while she had to sit on the grass in the middle of a training ground. Her hands were busy patting the ground to provide herself a place to sit while waiting for their Jounin team leader—mouth still didn't stop nagging.

Shikadai shifted from his spot, lying on a tree branch while Inojin sitting by his side. "What is she blabbering about? It's so bothersome," he complained.

"She sure can talk though," Inojin chuckled slightly. "Speaking of which, who is our sensei? It's been an hour past our appointment and whoever that is still not here."

As if in cue, a swoosh of wind ran past through them and for a split second, Inojin and Shikadai were frozen in spot. A swirl of spinning white and gray made its way to the ground before the man landed on his feet, looking up to the familiar kids.

"Sorry I was late. I had an errand at the Hokage office," Kiba flashed his grin, standing up properly as to greet his new junior teammates.

"You are?" Chouchou rested a hand on her hip, raising a brow in a way she thought most elegant.

"Inuzuka Kiba is the name," he promptly introduced. "I'll be your team leader starting from today. Even though I'm not giving off the right impression for being late on our first meeting."

"Exactly," Shikadai nodded absentmindedly.

Kiba raised a brow. Oh wow. Shikamaru's brat is being quite rude. But then again, Temari is his mother. And he was spoilt rotten since he was a baby. What else would he expect?

"It's rude to make a lady wait during the first date, sensei," Chouchou complained.

And those narcissistic nature must have come from Karui. Kiba rubbed his nape. These kids are so typical. He sighed inwardly.

Inojin jumped down to the ground, giving Kiba an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, sensei."

Those smiles... Kiba couldn't even fathom how similar it was to Sai's.

He slipped a hand into his pockets, taking in the image of the three newly graduated Genins. The moment Naruto had called him and asked him to lead a Genin team—particularly InoShikaChou—he had adamantly refused. It wasn't because he didn't like them. Rather, it was the opposite. These are the kids of his comrades. How the hell was he going to be responsible of them? Of course, since he was already a Jounin, he had led a number of missions already. But this mission is the mission he would like to avoid the most. If Kurenai, Asuma, Gai and Kakashi were any indication, he wouldn't want to be bound to a lifetime mission such as this—to train a team of Genins into full-fledged ones.

Kiba had never really dealt with kids directly. He wasn't even sure how to act around them. In fact, he wasn't a well-endowed kid years ago to begin with. He couldn't possibly do it like any of the senseis of the past. He was just not cut for it.

Why Naruto had picked him? He had no idea. But the moment he refused, Naruto had showed that it wasn't a request from a friend. It was an order from the Hokage. Damn that blonde for using such authority.

"Very well, since we are off one hour, let's skip the introduction and start introducing yourselves," Kiba instructed. He knew them, of course. But they have to know each other in depth. After all, they might be together for such a long time.

* * *

Shino was just about to leave the academy when he saw the familiar face of the dog-user ninja sitting on the roof of the building. "You are not supposed to sit there. Because you know why? The kids might get an idea of a prank from that."

"If the kids had never climbed up the academy roof before, I'd say the current generation had become less adventurous," Kiba rolled his eyes. He remembered those days when he, Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji would play around till the adults were having headache with how to stop them.

Silence dawned upon them. Neither had spoken nor moved. But the silence somehow told Shino everything he needed to know. He had known Kiba since they were child. He was so easily readable to him like an open book.

"Were you involved in picking me as the Jounin leader?"

There it was, as Shino thought. Indeed, he knew Kiba too well. "The Seventh had been putting a lot of people he trusted in charge of various divisions. Ino had taken the Intelligence Division, Sai is still active in Anbu, Sakura had taken over the hospital, I had taken over the Academy, Shikamaru was promoted as the Hokage Advisor, Hinata had taken over the Hyuuga clan, Lee had lead a full-fledged team of Chuunins, Tenten was given the honor for being the weapon supplier, and even Sasuke had become the village's Information Gathering Division. It is time for you to take over a team too. Because you know why? The bonds we had are being trusted upon."

"I do not need to listen to a reminder to where everyone's positions are," Kiba shook his head slightly. "I simply do not cut out to be a teacher."

"You were lost," Shino decided to say, head tilting up to the roof to meet his. "I hope you had found your way back."

Kiba did not understand what the hell that was supposed to mean.

* * *

He told his new teammates to meet up at the outskirts of the Fire Country two days later. It was fairly towards the east of Konoha, so he told them to exit via the back gates. Those gates were usually used by Anbu members to flee to their mission discreetly, as Sai had told him. But some ninjas unusually breech the usual traditions of leaving from the front gates and escaped from the back instead. Shikamaru had done it once.

Kiba wanted to kids to do that because he wanted them to know that there will always be more than one way to reach a place. Regardless the obvious difficult tresses when left from that gate, he insisted anyway.

It was almost noon when the kids reached him, panting. Chouchou was complaining as usual, Shikadai was groaning in annoyance, and Inojin with his smile. Kiba rubbed his face. Here goes nothing.

"Alright, now that you're all here, let's start your test."

"What? What test?" Chouchou spat.

"When you passed the academy, it doesn't mean you'll definitely be a ninja. You have to pass the team leader Jounin's assessment first. If you failed, you will be sent back to the academy," Kiba explained. "And mind you, if you failed, then you failed. I don't give pity marks even if your parents are my close friends."

"Wait a second, this is becoming bothersome," Shikadai interrupted. "We just went into a hell lot of trouble to get here and now you're asking us to go under assessment? No one had ever told us about this before!"

"That's because no one wanted to mention it. Just to save your anxiety of possibly having to fail one," Kiba said simply. "Now I'll explain your test. You see this cliff?"

He pointed behind him, and the trio Genins looked back at the tall cliff behind the Jounin. It was so impossibly tall that they could not actually see the peak. The clouds had surrounded the cliff far up there at some point, but it was extremely high. The greenery of random branches protruding from the rocky cliff had reduced in amount at some height. And the three kids definitely did not know what to expect from it.

"Climb to the top of it."

"What?!" they choired and Kiba could have sworn the InoShikaChou formation was starting already.

"You heard me," he nodded. "All of you had to race to the top by any means possible. You can use weapons or jutsu or anything which might be handful for you. The first two who made it will pass. The last one will be sent back to academy."

"Wait, what?!"

"You are allowed to kill," Kiba added, making the three gasps in surprise. "Or you can set any traps, you know the drill. However—"

The three kids widened their eyes in anticipation, waiting for what more weird rules their new sensei was trying to imply.

"Even if the last person failed, if whoever that is failed to reach the top, then all three of you will fail. In other words, despite one will be sent back to academy, all three of you must reach the top."

What the actual fuck!

"What insane rules that is? I cannot simply condone to this! This is beyond bothersome!" Shikadai's voice rose in protest.

"This is shinobi world, little Nara. You are no longer academy students. Open your eyes and welcome to the real world," Kiba's lips curved into a smirk. "The time limit is three days. I hope you prepared enough food. See you at the top," with that, he span into his gatsuga form and rolled up in a few hit on the cliff, disappearing from the sight of the three Genins. By the sight of it, he would reach the top in no time.

"Is he freakin' serious? He expects us to kill each other?" Chouchou freaked out, her usual demeanor worn off.

"We can but we don't have to do it," Inojin stated the obvious.

"But one of us will fail and be sent back to academy!" Chouchou's eyes widened dramatically.

"What the actual hell is he thinking?" Shikadai bit his lips, clearly irritated with the situation. Why did they even team InoShikaChou up if they plan to fail one of them? Or was it Kiba's own decision to separate them by purpose?

"Time is ticking guys. We need to move or we might all fail. Let's get moving. God knows how high the cliff is," Inojin reminded them.

"I'm so going to kill him at the top and throw his corpse down," Shikadai pulled out a kunai and started plucking it to the cliff to assist his climbing while focusing his chakra at his foot to remain his spot.

Inojin pulled out his scroll, drawing a bird with his Choju Giga technique—except his bird wasn't big enough to carry him up the cliff.

Chouchou used her Bubun Baika no Jutsu to enlarge her hands to assist her climbing, even though it proved to be rather more difficult instead.

It happened to be the cliff climbing might not seem as easy as Kiba made it to be.

* * *

 **A/N:** Does Shino have to mention all the divisions of their friends? Yes, coz their divisions play important part in the plot of the story. I hope you enjoy the story. Btw, I REALLY wanna make Sarutobi Mirai as their Jounin leader tbh. But since she seems to be still a Chuunin, I changed to Kiba instead. There goes my heart.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"How long do you think we will need to reach the top?" Inojin suddenly asked, fingers clutching at the crease of the cliff. Eyes fixed to the sky, his furrowed his brows before looking down again. The sun was starting to set, but Inojin can still see the ground even though they had gotten pretty high. But of course, the peak was nowhere to be seen yet.

Shikadai planted two kunais deep in the cliff before slipping his arms above it, letting him rest for a while from all those chakra gathering. Glancing up, he caught his breath while answering. "I'm not sure. There is probably some kind of technique to go up. If we rely on simple cliff climbing, three days won't be enough. We'll all fail for sure."

"What do you suggest us to do?" Inojin stabbed his sword in the cliff before perching on it.

"Hey, I'm tired," Chouchou's voice was shaking, but she was actually a little bit ahead of the boys.

"Take a rest and have something to eat, Chouchou," Inojin suggested.

"I want a bento."

"In such condition as this, one cannot be a picker."

"You are so strict, Inojin."

Shikadai squinted. They needed to eat dinner already. If he had to calculate the worse scenario, they had to at least reserve food for three or four days. They need to at least last for that long. But it had been half a day and they could not still see the peak. Will they even make it in three days? Shikadai started to doubt it.

He had not yet master the whole shadow technique and he was pretty sure Kagemane no Jutsu could help nothing in cliff climbing. It would be entirely different if he had learnt Kagenui but he hadn't and that obviously out of their chances. The only thing he could think about was Wind Element Jutsu. But even if he wanted to blow himself all the way up, he would need some resistence from below for the jutsu to work. And if the ground was far way down, it would be futile.

Inojin's Yamanaka clan technique would be completely useless in this. And even if his Choju Giga would really be useful, it seemed as if he still needed a lot more training. If only his Beast Imitation technique had improved, this whole thing would be very easy. Chouchou's Akimichi technique might only be useful if they almost reach the top. Shikadai bit his lips. And besides, one of them will fail no matter what. How was he supposed to get his teammates out of this mess? He hated this sensei already.

Inojin was munching on his onigiri when suddenly an explosion occurred just a few meters above them. Inojin and Shikadai shot their heads up just to see a slightly burnt Chouchou falling down.

"Help me!" Chouchou's hands were flailing everywhere, trying to reach something to stop her from falling to death or something.

"Chouchou!" Shikadai pulled out a kunai and threw it towards her, aiming for the collar of her dress, efficiently stucking her form to the cliff. With a thud sound, Chouchou was hung to the cliff with the kunai.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Chouchou looked down at her two teammates. "Thank you, guys."

"I told you to rest and eat," Inojin said. Despite his eyes flashing a bit of worry, his facial expression seemed to be somewhat inscrutable.

"I thought I could go just a bit faster before it's dark," Chouchou complained.

Shikadai shook his head. "No, let's quit with the idle chat for now. What happened up there, Chouchou?"

"I don't know. I was trying to climb higher then I saw a short string. I thought it might help me up a bit more but when I pulled it, it exploded," she explained, concentrating chakra on her feet to get herself together again.

"A trap, huh?" Shikadai squinted before glaring up the sky. "I see. You are allowed to kill. So that's how it is."

"What do you mean, Shikadai?" Inojin turned to his best friend.

"Inuzuka Kiba. I've read about him from my dad's book," the Nara boy's expression hardened.

"You read your dad's confidential books?"

"Shut up, Inojin," Shikadai rolled his eyes. Inojin really had Sai's talent to steer away conversations. "That obviously is not the most important part of the information I was telling you."

"What is then?"

"Kiba-sensei," Shikadai went back to business. "He's a trap specialist."

"Trap specialist?" his friends echoed.

"Since we are gonna work with him, I thought I would research him a bit. He is known as someone who knows the forest, lands and mountains the most. I read that he is a master in setting traps and ninja tools and people relied on him in most of reconnaissance and tracking mission," he explained.

"But the explosion—"

"When he said we are allowed to kill, he didn't expect us to kill each other," Shikadai deliberately pause to let the logic sink in his teammates' minds.

Inojin's eyes widened albeit slightly. "You mean—"

"He's telling us that he's gonna kill us," Shikadai nodded.

"No way!" Chouchou almost spat. "We just graduated! Why would he want to kill us?"

"He told us down there, didn't he?" Shikadai felt his anger boiling as he repeated Kiba's words. "Welcome to the real world."

* * *

The night at the Land of Lightning was rather intimidating in Sai's opinion. The occasional lightning adorning the sky somehow gave this impression that it was going to rain sometime soon. Sai panted slightly, trying to gain his strength again to complete his sealing technique. He wasn't sealing a living thing to begin with. Therefore he had no idea why it drained a lot of his chakra. What he did know was, the black rounded icy thing placed in a small gazebo in front of his seemed dangerous enough for him to just let go. It contained a huge amount of chakra that Sai wasn't even sure how it was even possible. If something other than humans could harbor chakra, Sai couldn't help but to think of it as ninja weapons. Something like Tenten's Rikudou Sennin no Hogu. It definitely wasn't a good news.

And just because of that, Sai was determined—even if it meant draining the rest of his life chakra for it.

A few scripture that no human eyes could fathom appeared around the black item, successfully suppressing the chakra into minimal. And then it was wrapped in white cloth tightly with a seal. Sai couldn't help but collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

Damn it. He wished he had contacted Darui and Omoi when he reached the place. He was way towards the North East of the Land of Lightning and he wondered even if he died there, the Raikage might not even know. But he had to report this to Naruto and Shikamaru. He couldn't afford to let this information go to waste. Even if it killed him, he had to deliver the message.

Mustering the last strength, Sai pulled out his scroll. He took his brush and started writing the letter containing the whole mission he was on this time. There wasn't anyone operating on the black ball, but the chakra it possessed was overwhelming that Sai thought Konoha and their alliances should know.

Finishing his letter with messy writing, Sai could feel his consciousness slipping. He had been performing the sealing technique for four days and the technique needed swift chakra control that he couldn't afford to take a rest—especially the amount of chakra stored in that black ball was beyond overwhelming. And usually they would use a few people to execute that technique—it was a bit inconvenient that he was there on a solo mission. But duty came first. He was an Anbu. Duty always came first.

His sight was blurry.

His hands started to make a cluster of hand seal, morphing the words he had written into an object of a bird. And as it did, he performed his Choju Giga and let the ink bird fly away.

"Send the words back to the Seventh," he muttered. "Please."

He closed his eyes, just to realize if he stayed there, he might die for real. For a few seconds, he hesitated but he tried to crawl away anyway. He didn't even have the strength to stand. How pathetic. He cursed himself inwardly. He was only able to reach a waterfall when another lightning befell the sky. Was he really going to die here?

Die.

Years ago, he wouldn't mind of dying. After all, he was a Root member, a tool that was supposed to die—he was a nobody. He was supposed to value duty over life. All Anbu were taught a suicide jutsu only they know—it would turn your body into ashes and no one can possess your corpse for any evidences or information. It was a sad story about being an Anbu. You'll die a forgotten death. You wouldn't even receive a proper funeral you deserve for your duty—unlike Neji.

But he was born an Anbu. He swore to Anbu he would decompose his own body upon the time of his death. It was supposed to be natural to him. But the thought of death this time broke him. The soft face of his wife and the innocent image of his son appeared in his mind. And Sai thought this was probably how it felt to miss someone. He felt it quite a lot during long missions—which he cannot help since Anbu always would take the longest missions.

Then again, those missions were taken to protect them.

He wanted to protect them. If death meant their safety, he would gladly die for it.

He formed a hand seal again. This time, the hand seal was of one he would use the first time—and the last time too.

The Self Eradication Technique.

His seal was slow—thanks to his exhaustion and hesitation. But he decided at his last moment of life, his short life was worth it. He was able to love someone, and call himself a father. Something he had never imagined ten years ago. He had taken more than what he deserved. It was just natural to give them back.

He was just a step more of the hand seal, closing his eyes as an intense blue chakra started to surround him. He could feel his life started to respond. But just as his hands moved to perform the last seal, he felt his hands being tugged away.

And the blue chakra around him vanished.

Sai looked up at the intruder—wondering who it was himself. He was at the further North East of Land of Lightning. Not even the citizen came here. Then who was it? His eyes trailed up to meet a pair of deep orbs.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?

* * *

Shikadai bit a kunai between his mouth, hands fumbling at the creases of the cliff before nodding to his friends. He released the kunai between his mouth then scratch a mark on the rocky surface. "It's safe up to here. Climb up."

Inojin and Chouchou obeyed, climbing up to Shikadai's height. They've gotten higher over the night, but slower too. Shikadai had been leading first, making sure of a path free of traps since he was better in darkness than the two. He noticed a few traps with kunais and smoke bombs and Shikadai managed to avoid it.

"I'm pretty sure we won't make it in time, Shikadai," Inojin remarked as he climbed.

"We might if we don't stop to rest."

"I need some rest," Chouchou whined in protest.

"And fail the test? You're okay with that?"

"Shikadai—"

"I feel frustrated!"

Inojin and Chouchou remained silent.

"I know one of us would fail but I don't want it to happen. I want us all to pass but no matter how I think about it, I can't seem to find a way out!" Shikadai punched the cliff lightly, as if enunciating his feeling.

Inojin stared at his friend. He wasn't aware of how hard Shikadai had been thinking about this test. He was too focus on climbing the cliff and he thought perhaps they could figure that out later. But Shikadai seemed to be more serious on this. Inojin didn't realize how much Shikadai had been trying to take care of both of them—from the failure and from the traps. Perhaps it was something running in the blood of Nara—they might be lazy, but they have extremely high sense of responsibility.

"There has to be something—anything! We can't let one fail. It just doesn't make sense," Shikadai was still muttering as he continued trailing a safe path up for his friends.

Inojin gave a slight glance over his scroll. Dad... If only I am as strong as you... If only I am as giant as you... I might be able to protect my friends. If only...

* * *

Sai looked up, meeting the dark deep identical eyes. And the name of the figure in front of him slipped out from his lips, his hands still being gripped tightly as if the person refused to let his chakra continue to flow out for that forbidden jutsu.

"Uchiha Sasuke," he acknowledged weakly. "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke glared down at the Anbu guy before finally letting go of the hand. "The hand seal was unusal. And the chakra seemed to suck out something. Were you trying to kill yourself?"

"Anbu should never leave their corpses behind. It will threaten the village with the information we carry," Sai mumbled, eyes drooping as his sight became blurrier.

Sasuke knew Sai's senses were failing him. It actually amazed Sasuke how Sai could still remain alive with such depleted chakra. In fact, he wasn't sure what Sai was doing to be on this current state either. He could not sense any physical injury nor terrain damages to indicate any fighting. But the lack of chakra was seriously alarming.

"I'm going to talk to Naruto about this whole Anbu-never-leave-their-corpses-behind thing, but at the mean time—" he activated his magenkyo sharingan and summoned Susanoo, picking the now unconscious Sai effortlessly on the humanoid. "We need to get you back for help."

Sasuke decided that reaching Kumogakure would be faster than insisting for Konoha.

Besides, the Raikage knew about his mission of tracing Kaguya's chakra. It wouldn't be that hard to explain the situation.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm pretty sure I would still have grammar errors in this chapter, sorry. But I'll try to re-read the whole thing and correct any mistakes I can see. I'll try to do a better job next time, I hope. But do keep up with the input. Thanks for those who commented, followed and favorited the story especially; **MrBright01** and **just a girl with a mission**.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I intend to use all adults at developing this adventure they will take after. Which is why I made Shino explain to Kiba about everyone's positions. However, I might have to exclude a few coz I can't optimize all 16 of them—yup, I meant all 13 from Konoha, plus the 3 from Suna coz I have no intention on leaving neither Sasuke nor the dead Neji out. It's really hard to use all when you have a large number of them but I'll try my best. Sasuke is just easier to use coz he's a wanderer, which is why I picked him. And becoz this is a story about how the adults help the children grow. I want to imagine the kids seeing them like how Naruto and friends were seeing Kakashi, Gai, Jiraiya etc. You know what I mean.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

* * *

"His internal organs are slightly damaged. Our medical ninjas aren't as good as Konoha's but he'll be good to go in two or three days, I guess. I'm sorry," Darui informed, closing the door to Sai's ward.

Sasuke frowned slightly. "That bad?" That was weird. Why would Sai strain himself to that point?

"I'm sorry," Darui said lowly. "But anyway, why are you at the North East border of our land? Are you saying that the Kaguya chakra you've been searching for is around here?"

"Theoretically I felt some here. But when I reached this land, I can hardly pinpoint the place. I still need to investigate more to be sure," Sasuke pivoted on his heels, ready to leave. "Perhaps I should scan the place once again and see if I can find anything. Can I trust Sai to you?"

"You're not going to wait for him to wake up?"

Sasuke shook his head. "We might be from the same village, but he's an Anbu commander. Anbu missions are highly confidential. And my mission is a top secret only the Kages and their advisors know. I'm pretty sure even if he wakes up, we will exchange zero information. Waiting for him would just be futile. Just help me cure him so he can return. I owe you my thanks."

With that, Sasuke left. There was always somewhere he needed to be.

* * *

The dawn was breaking, and even if it was still too far out of reach, Shikadai could at least see the end of the cliff. Great. So at least now he could calculate the distance and how far they should go. But they seemed to be quite far from their goal. The crackles of small rocks falling caught his attention.

"What happened?" Shikadai looked down to his friends. Inojin was just slightly below him but Chouchou was quite far.

"Nothing. I just accidentally grabbed a loose end," Chouchou was panting.

"I think Chouchou reached her limits. Don't you think we should rest? We've been going on non stop for more than two days already," Inojin said flatly.

Shikadai sighed. Inojin was right. Insisting to go on without break was just a wishful thinking. They needed some rest somehow. "Chouchou, why are you executing too much chakra? You're exhausting yourself."

"I was trying to change my outer appearance," Chouchou exhaled in exasperation. "But it never worked out."

"You can change your outer appearance?" Inojin looked at her amused.

"My dad can. It's kinda like one of the secret Akimichi technique. But I haven't master it and it seemed not working," she shook her head. "If I can, I might be able to push up faster."

Push up faster.

Shikadai blinked. Wait! There could be something they can do for this.

"Inojin, Chouchou, will you do something for me?"

"What?" Chouchou and Inojin choired, whipping their heads to face the Nara heir.

"In return, I'll guarantee your success."

Kiba was sitting cross-legged at the top of the cliff, looking down as he could see the kids had become visible though rather small from his spot. Of all the traps he had set, only one managed to get them. Kiba was amused. Of course, those traps were made obvious—he wouldn't go all out Jounin level over newly graduated Genins. He wasn't serious about killing them. But their consciousness of the danger ahead was more important. And if they couldn't figure out such obvious traps, they obviously weren't suited for missions.

"Hmm," Kiba hummed in amusement. "Looks like Shikadai have something up his sleeve." The Nara clan was not one people should look down upon after all. A smirk made its way on his face as he continued watching his new teammates.

* * *

Naruto was typing something when Shikamaru entered his office, bringing a few papers in. Paperwork would never end for Hokage—even though there were less papers now since computers existed. Only now that Naruto finally understood the headache Tsunade and Kakashi had before. And the Third... Oh dear lord, he had caused a lot of ruckus back then.

"I feel like slacking," Naruto ignored the newly arrived papers Shikamaru placed on his desk.

"Don't you even dream about it. Besides, slacking is my thing," Shikamaru glared, making sure his voice punctuated enough venom. "How's Boruto coping with being a Genin though?"

Naruto's face lighted up at the mention of his son. "He seemed excited. Konohamaru would do a good job leading them, I'm sure."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. Team Konohamaru will excel from here onwards," Naruto nodded with confidence. "Team Kiba had started too, it seems. Have you ever thought about taking apprentice?"

"What? Me?" Shikamaru was taken aback at the question. For a moment, he looked away as he pondered, fingers scratching the back of his head. "In a way, I already have an apprentice. I've been training her since she was a child."

"Sarutobi Mirai, huh?" Naruto smiled knowingly. "You have a splendid one, indeed."

"It's too troublesome to take another one. One is enough for me," Shikamaru grunted a bit.

Naruto laughed lightly, shaking his head as he stared at his friend. "You never change. But why did you take her as your apprentice?"

Shikamaru's face contorted as if pondering over the troublesome matter but before he could answer, his eyes caught something in the sky, heading directly towards them.

"Is that a bird?" the Nara head approached the window.

Naruto turned back, facing the window too. His eyes squinted to properly catch the object heading directly towards them. It wasn't that long until it was visible to his eyes.

"It's Sai's bird! Open the window!"

In swift motion, Shikamaru quickly unlocked the window and swung it open, and the bird flew in right after with a woosh of wind. It flew around the ceiling for a while, and Naruto frowned.

"Sai is not with it," Shikamaru stated, staring at the restless bird.

"What happened?"

"It is trying to tell something. We need an empty scroll," Shikamaru rushed to a cupboard near the wall, rummaging in it before pulling out a scroll and spread it open on the floor. Then he put out two fingers near his face in a seal motion as the bird approached him.

Concentrating his chakra at his hand seal, Shikamaru released Sai's jutsu. "Release!"

The bird splashed on the scroll and the ink slowly formed on the scroll until they finally built up into a letter. Naruto's eyes widened as he watched, scrambling down near his friend at the messy writing.

"Sai's letter. Do we need Shiho to decipher this?" Naruto suggested.

Shikamaru picked the scroll up, reading the familiar writing despite being rather messy than usual. "Nah, Sai wrote it in a clearly un-ninja way."

* * *

Kiba squinted his eyes slightly, eyes still fixed on the image of his new teammates seemingly to discuss something with each other—well, more like Shikadai given orders to the rest. The dog ninja crossed his arms on his chest, raising a brow when he noticed Inojin pulling out his scroll.

"Hmm, they're up to something," Kiba watched with more interest. What could Shikadai be planning?

"Ready, everyone?" Shikadai said, pulling out a kunai from his pouch.

Inojin plucked his sword into the cliff as he sat on it, pulling his scroll open on his lap and took his brush. "Anytime."

Kiba had to lean forward slightly as the Yamanaka boy started to draw something on his scroll. Choju Giga? But his bird isn't—

Inojin pulled out a bow from the scroll. It wasn't huge per say, but the arrow was connected to a long rope.

"Certainly just like you said, Shikadai," Inojin smirked, his brush still drawing a long line, which he constantly pulled out in the form of ink rope. "Drawing a living thing would need more chakra and skilled technique. But simply drawing a bow, an arrow and a rope wouldn't need that much skill."

"Good," Shikadai grinned triumphantly. "Chouchou, are you ready?"

"Of course," the Akimichi girl nodded enthusiastically. Long gone her exhaustion at the prospect of reaching their goal. "I've changed my perception about you, Shikadai."

Shikadai snorted, rolling his eyes in the process. "You think of all boys the same anyway."

"I'm drawing the metal weight now, Chouchou!" Inojin slipped the long ink rope into the small hole at the back end of the arrow then tossed one side to Chouchou and another to Shikadai.

"Okay!" Chouchou snatched the end rope that was given to her before activating her chakra.

"Hold on to me, Chouchou. Don't let go," Shikadai held out a hand in which Chouchou gingerly took with her free hand. The Nara boy tied the rope around his waist before reaching for Inojin too.

The Yamanaka boy took his brush again, drawing another thing that Kiba noticed like a heavy weight and the object materialised from the scroll.

"Now, Chouchou!"

Chouchou concentrated her chakra at one hand and performed a one hand Bubun Baika no Jutsu, enlarging it before catching the heavy weight with her strength. "Ready to go up, guys," she used her other hand to tie up her end of rope to the heavy weight on her enlarged hand, feeling Shikadai's grip on both her and Inojin tightened.

It was like a kenjutsu, Inojin thought. You pull the bow's string as far as you can, and aim the arrow to the point you wanted precisely. Inojin's eyes concentrated to one point, a smirk forming in his head. His hand glowed in blue, pouring his chakra into the arrow before letting go of the string.

The arrow shot up fast, embedding itself deep near the peak. The ink rope was still hanging at the back of the arrow, one end was tied around Shikadai, while the other was tied to the weight held by Chouchou. The rope was long enough for them to hang about the arrow.

Her huge hand, sensing all the preparations were complete, let go of the weight. And the weight was heavy enough to fall down by gravity, pulling them up by leverage at the same time. They almost reached the top at the sudden jump from the force the weight gave them. Shikadai held Chouchou's waist tighter and gripped around Inojin before he tapped his foot closer to the cliff. In that one second, he extended his shadow.

Just a bit more. Shikadai concentrated his shadow to extend up to the peak. They were just a meter away from the peak.

Kiba's eyes widened. The shadow was extending fast, almost catching his. "Whoa, this boy," Kiba jumped back, avoiding the shadow at all cost.

But the shadow caught the rock he was previously sitting on. And then in that short moment, Kiba saw how the shadow manipulated by the user before it literally shrunk and pulled its user in the process.

They were pulled up immediately, and Kiba saw the three of them jumped up, glowing under the dawn before then landed right in front of their teacher together.

Kiba was stunned—just for a few seconds though.

"So?" Shikadai let go of Inojin and Chouchou on the ground. "Which one of us failed, sensei?" he mocked.

Kiba raised his brows, lips curving in a smirk. "I have never seen Kagemane no Jutsu being used like that before."

"It was my first time trying it."

"What?" Inojin and Chouchou whipped their heads towards their teammate.

Shikadai shrugged. "But I did it."

"We could have died if you failed! You didn't tell us you were experimenting!" Chouchou groaned in frustration.

"Stop being bothersome. The point is, we made it—" Shikadai rolled his eyes.

Chouchou squinted, resting her palms on her hips. "You should have told us you wanted to put our lives in jeopardy—"

"Alright, alright, cut it out, guys," Kiba clapped his hands to gather attention. "Congratulations, you all passed. Being able to optimize your limitations to complete your goals was something," he smiled. "Please always remember this along your road to ninja."

Inojin looked up at him blankly. "Why should I remember to draw bow and rope?"

"No, not that," Kiba chuckled. "Listen. Somewhere along your way, you will have to face situations when one of you will die. Or maybe all of you. Make decisions wisely, and always remember to optimize your limitations to your advantage," he paused. "Never abandon your teammates. Ever."

Shikadai snorted. "Oh yeah? You were the one trying to kill us with all the amount of traps."

"Traps are crucial in missions. You need to at least able to recognize them. You, kids, still have a long way to go," Kiba grinned, tapping a finger on the boy's forehead. "For now, let's head back. Rest for today. Tomorrow, our new mission will start."

He noticed how the kids whined and complained.

* * *

"What kind of mission is this?" Chouchou complained, one hand clamping the trash floating on the river and threw it in the basket hanging on her back. "How can you make a lady do something like this? And you make us do this after you tried to kill us at the cliff. You better treat me well after this."

"Stop blabbering. At least Kiba doesn't make us do bothersome missions," Shikadai mumbled, picking some trash lazily.

"But this mission is rather boring and useless," Inojin interrupted.

Kiba groaned. Okay, so not only he was not being respected by his teammates, but he was also the troublesome one now. Really, if there was someone who should complain, it should be him. He was a Special Jounin, and here he was, doing a D-rank mission. He seriously couldn't imagine their teachers doing this before. Then again, he didn't exactly give the best impression to them in the first place. But still.

Sighing, he finished cleaning the trash floating in the river before turning to the kids. "Alright, we'll go and eat later at the Yakiniku Q. Finish everything and let's report to the Seventh."

* * *

"Good job," Naruto grinned, taking the mission report from his friend. Kiba wished he could wipe off that grin. He wasn't even sure if Naruto was mocking him or something.

"Are you up to another job? I have one that would take you a bit longer," Naruto offered.

"What rank?" Chouchou urged.

"D-rank."

Chouchou's shoulders slumped down. "Are we picking trash again?"

Naruto chuckled. "You'll be picking something again, but not trash."

"By the way, Inojin, your father just arrived earlier," Shikamaru interrupted. "He's at the hospital now. You might want to go and see him."

"Hospital?" Inojin's ears perked up at the sudden news. "What happened to him?"

"He's fine. The Raikage sent him home safely," Shikamaru shifted his eyes to Kiba. "Sai did complain however, about a certain group of Genin who passed through the back gate of Konoha for training."

Kiba gulped. "What? H-how did he know about us?"

Shikamaru raised his brows in amusement. "Well, it's Sai. And that gate belongs to Anbu. He had his ink creatures guarding it. Don't do it again."

"Well, you used it once before too," Kiba rolled his eyes.

"When I used it, I was with another two Anbu members. It's not a public gate, Kiba," Shikamaru squinted reproachfully.

"Yes, yes, fine," Kiba relented. "I won't use it again. So what's the next mission?"

"Sakura and Ino are developing a new medicine for chakra healing," Naruto started. "They need some herbs that can only grow at Suna. I want you to pick the herbs back to Konoha. I'll be telling the Kazekage about it."

"We'll be going to Shikadai's uncle place?" Chouchou asked excitedly.

"Yeah, well, the Raikage asked about your well-being too, Chouchou," Naruto smiled softly.

"Really? Can we go to Kumo too?" Chouchou seemed to have forgotten the rank of the mission was still as low as a D-rank.

"I'll take note if we have a mission like that. But none for now."

"Chouchou, Shikadai, why don't you two go home and rest. Inojin, you should go and see your father too," Kiba urged them. "I'll see you guys tomorrow morning at the front gate to set off to Suna. Shikadai should tell your mom about this too."

The kids whined a bit before gradually disappearing behind the door. Kiba turned back to the Hokage and his advisor once the kids were finally gone. "So, Sai was acquainted with the Raikage?"

"It's not the kind of Anbu mission I can reveal yet. But you should be careful too, Kiba," Naruto warned him.

"We'll be having a meeting with all the Jounins later. Make yourself available after you come back from Suna," Shikamaru told him.

Kiba's brows rose. "Roger." He wished things won't be too serious.

* * *

 **A/N:** I kinda jumped too fast at the end of the chapter, sorry. That was my writer's block. LOL. I'll try my best and do better the next chappie. ._. And since I wrote this in a hurry, please do point out the grammatical error. It helps, trust me. Thanks for those who had reviewed, favourited and followed the story; **MrBright01, just a girl with a mission** and **Lock on Lockon**.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update. I was... (insert excuses here)

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

* * *

"Dad?"

Sai grunted quietly as he opened his eyes groggily, wondering who that was disturbing his sleep. He yawned before focusing his sight to the blonde boy practically hovering above him.

"Dad! Are you dead?"

Sai grunted. "Inojin, do you always wake your parents up being so annoying like this?"

Inojin's worried face beamed into a huge smile as he saw his father opening his eyes. Launching himself on his father, he wrapped his arms around Sai tightly. "Dad! I thought you were dead!"

Sai let out a small grunt when his son practically jumped on his stomach, making him out of breath for a few seconds. "Inojin, please don't think of yourself as a two-year-old boy anymore. You're heavy."

Inojin sat back, grumbling slightly. "Dad looked pale like you were dead."

"Your mom would feel offended by that but your skin is as pale as mine," Sai sat up, leaning against the head bed.

"Was it a dangerous mission?" Inojin blinked, looking up at the ANBU commander.

"All missions are dangerous."

"Mine are not. We only pick up trash. Kiba must be weaker than you that he had to take such missions," Inojin nodded with a straight face.

"Actually, that's because you and your friends are weak. Not him," Sai chuckled slightly.

"I'm not weak. I am going to enroll in ANBU so I am strong."

Sai raised his brows at his son's statement. "You can't enroll in ANBU. That's not how ANBU work."

"You should scout me. I am strong enough to handle such missions," Inojin grinned. "My choju giga technique has improved too."

Sai stared back at his son, wondering when his son even started to have the idea of joining him. "No, I won't. I would never do that."

"Why?"

Rubbing his face a bit, Sai started to wonder that himself too. He was starting to get better at reasoning and expressing himself, but that still didn't mean he didn't have problem with it now. Ino had helped him out most of the time but she certainly wasn't here this time. It was amazing how that Yamanaka heir can actually tolerate and understand his absurdity. But somehow they worked best together.

"Is it because you thought I'm weak?" Inojin squinted.

"Inojin, you _are_ weak," Sai rolled his eyes.

"I can prove to you I'm not."

"Listen," Sai sighed. "Why don't you go home and rest? Tell your mom I'll be home in a few hours. She'd be pissed off if you're late, you know."

He saw his son shivering visibly at the mental image of his mother scolding him. "Well, okay. Next time, I'll show you I've gotten stronger," Inojin hastily stood, heading towards the ward door. "Mom is cooking stew tonight. Be home to eat."

Sai leaned back, heaving a relieved sigh as his son disappeared from the room.

"What a way to call your own son weak."

Sai's eyes drifted to the window, registering his old comrade leaning on the sill. "When did you arrive, Kiba?"

"Not too long," Kiba grinned. "Ino might get pissed off if she knows you called her son weak."

"He is weaker than us," Sai said as if he was stating a fact.

"That's because we are older. Geez, and here I thought your child psychology is better since you got yourself a son. You never change," Kiba laughed. "Then, was it a bad mission? You look quite beaten up to have Omoi bringing you back to Konoha."

Sai shook his head, dismissing Kiba's complain about him. Inojin mostly took after him in that matter anyway—which explained why Ino always pissed off about it. "I wasn't fighting."

"Oh?" that piqued Kiba's interest. "What happened to you then?"

If it were any other shinobi, Sai wouldn't even think about telling about his mission. But Kiba was one of the Special Jounin. Naruto would probably tell him sooner or later. "I was sealing a ninja weapon. The amount of chakra was overwhelming."

"Ninja weapon? Was the owner around?" Kiba found himself giving more attention than he thought he would. The world seemed so at peace now. The fact that Sai almost gave his life for something at this era somehow didn't sit right for him.

Sai curtly shook his head. "No owner. It was placed in a small gazebo."

"Gazebo?"

"Also," Sai added. "I met Sasuke."

Kiba swallowed the lump in his throat at the mention of the name. What the hell was Sasuke doing there? If it was ten years ago, he would have accused Sasuke to be up to something. But right now, he knew better. And the fact that Sasuke and Sai met on a mission only meant one thing—something was stirring up in this world.

The peace might be interrupted soon.

"Kiba," Sai pulled him out of his thought. "Don't ever use the back gate of Konoha again."

"I won't! You stingy bastard!"

* * *

The next morning, Kiba arrived at the front gate of Konoha just to be greeted by his teammates. He swore he wasn't late. They were just early. And that was odd because he always thought Shikadai would be too lazy for this. Either he was excited to meet his uncles, or he had some competitive trait from Temari. He watched how Shikadai yawned as he complained about the mission being so bothersome. Chouchou was carrying his huge backpack, which Kiba assumed was filled with bentos. Inojin was standing there quietly as usual, blurting out blunt comment as usual.

Kiba sighed. "It's gonna be a very long mission."

"What were you saying, Kiba? You're late! We need to get going or we won't make it in time!" Chouchou blabbered as she waved her hands exaggeratedly.

"We need three days to reach Suna," Kiba stated flatly, walking right past the kids as he walked away from Konoha while bidding goodbye to the gatekeepers, not bothering to wait for the kids. "What do you mean we won't make it in time? The time would still be three days."

The new generation of Ino-Shika-Chou trio quickly scrambled on their feet as they followed their leader, heading towards the direction of Suna.

"But Kiba! Three days are too long! I might not have enough food!"

"Chouchou, we definitely need three days. Stop complaining, it's bothersome."

"Shikadai, you're excited too."

"Shut up, Inojin."

Kiba palmed his face as he continued walking. "Why did I even agree to babysit these kids again? Oh yes, Seventh forced me to."

* * *

Sasuke looked around, letting the occasional lightning illuminated the ground of the northeast in the Land of Lightning. His eyes fixed on the creature lying near him, unconscious. It was a weird creature, more like a human sized bird with hands and legs. Its wings were just as big as the size of its body. And Sasuke wondered the origin of such creature. It somehow looked like him—when he transformed into Stage Two with Orochimaru's seal. When it suddenly attacked him while he was searching for Kaguya's chakra, Sasuke found himself stepping up his skill to defeat it. It was rather strong for an animal—or at least Sasuke thought it was an animal.

What concerned Sasuke more was the fact that its location wasn't too far from the spot where he found Sai almost worn out? Did Sai got injured for fighting this creature? But even if Sasuke found this creature strong, it wasn't too strong to the point that would injure Sai that much. And Sai did not have any physical wound or injuries to support the evidence.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. Things just won't connect. He glanced at the creature once again. It was unconscious but still breathing. Perhaps it was time to send Konoha some souvenir. Naruto might find it useful.

He decided to take the creature home.

* * *

They arrived at Suna at night on their third day travelling, and they were just lucky Gaara and Kankurou were still in office. Both of them seem to having some leisure conversation when they entered the Kazekage's office.

"You were late," Gaara stated the moment he saw the troop.

Kiba glanced at the kids, who were complaining about being hungry and tired and what not. He had had enough of them and he wondered how the hell Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai could stand them—Gai was probably out of the league though.

"Yeah, well," Kiba paused. "It's kinda difficult when you have to bring the kids along. They're noisy."

"What? We ran out of food, Kiba!" Chouchou complained.

"You brought a lot but you ate half of them on the first day. Your fault," Kiba argued.

"And you only ate like soldier pill the rest of the day—"

Kiba rolled his eyes before turning back to the Kazekage and his advisor. "I swear Tamaki and I are not having any kids."

Kankurou laughed. "Don't say that. You have no idea how much that issue had troubled Gaara and I."

Shikadai was scratching his head, looking everywhere with a distant look when he noticed his Uncle Gaara was staring at him. He cleared his throat before facing them. "Mom and dad sent their regards to both of you."

Kankurou grinned. "Why don't you guys rest for tonight? The herbs you're searching for is at the southern are of Suna. We'll escort you there tomorrow."

"Oops, you better not," Kiba chuckled. "This is their mission. You don't get Kazekage's special treatment during missions. Even if he's the Kazekage's nephew."

Kankurou scoffed. "Acting tough? Don't let me go out and save your ass again this time. Where's your dog?"

"You don't need to save me. You only saved me like 20 years ago," Kiba rolled his eyes. "Akamaru doesn't travel much anymore. For dog's age, he's rather old already."

"Aww, the dog ninja is lonely now?" Kankurou teased.

"Shut up," Kiba grimaced before turning to the kids. "Go back to the quarters and sleep. We'll head out early in the morning."

"But I'm hungry!" Chouchou complained.

"Then go eat then sleep," Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Well, if you're not in a hurry, you can stay longer here. We'd be glad to have you guys," Kankurou offered, and Gaara nodded. "We can catch up with the lost time. It's been a while since we sit and talk together."

"As much as I'd like to, I'm afraid we can't," Kiba grinned cheekily. "I have a Jounin meeting waiting for me when I get back. So we probably will have to head back as soon as possible."

Gaara shot up an eyebrow. "Something happened?"

"Yeah, you can say that," Kiba shrugged. He wasn't about to reveal some sensitive information when the kids are still there. Gaara and Kankurou seemed to know that as they glanced at the trio.

"Very well, kids. Let's go get something to eat then go to sleep," Kankurou said. "You have a mission waiting for you tomorrow."

* * *

Chouchou sighed contentedly as she rubbed her full tummy. "Finally, my starvation is relieved."

Shikadai threw his bag at the corner as he threw himself on the comfy single bed, yawning. Kiba had another different room and he seemed to stay with his uncles to talk about their nostalgia or something? Shikadai didn't bother to know. "You weren't starved," he mumbled sleepily. "You were just having some appetite."

"I'm starved. Period," Chouchou glared at the Nara boy even though the boy didn't seem to feel threatened.

"Suna is pretty boring," Inojin commented dryly as he climbed on his single bed in the room near the window, eyes still fixed on the pamphlet he took from the Suna front gate. "They only have sands. No festivals this time around too."

"It's called Suna, Inojin," Shikadai rolled his eyes. "This is where real shinobi endures."

"Endure from what?"

"From the harsh life," Shikadai answered even though his eyes were closed, irritation etched heavily on his face. He didn't bother to mask them. Inojin wasn't one to feel offended by expressions anyway. "Shinobi are ones who endure. In Suna, only the strongest shall survive."

"Oh? Sounds fun," Inojin pursed his lips. "So will we get to fight tomorrow."

"We're picking herbs. How does that sound like fighting to you?" Chouchou frowned.

"Oh," Inojin shrugged.

"The southern of Suna was a huge desert," Shikadai chipped in. "We might have to fight some centipede in the desert if you really want to. It's bothersome though."

"Centipede sounds easy," Inojin slipped under his blanket. "Do you think Kiba can win a centipede?"

"Guys, it's centipede," Chouchou rolled her eyes, lying on her bed comfortably. "Even children can defeat them. You just have to step on it."

"Yeah, that is if you _can_ step on it. Most centipedes in the desert are bigger than humans," Shikadai shifted, placing an arm on his face to assist him sleep to no avail. His friends were still talking and the lights were as bright as day and it irritated him.

"Really? Let's kill those monster centipedes then," Inojin grinned.

"But centipedes aren't strong. We might not needed if Kiba can destroy them," Chouchou pondered.

Shikadai almost scoffed. Did they seriously think they were stronger than Kiba?

"Let's make a plan then," Chouchou jumped excitedly, snapping her fingers as if she got a brilliant idea.

Shikadai and Inojin opened their eyes at that. "What plan?"

"A plan to lose Kiba tomorrow!"

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm still gonna edit the previous chapter but I haven't got the time to. I will inform again after I finish editing coz some of the things during their training were a bit off. Thanks to all those who reviewed and followed the story; **Lock on Lockon, Ken18, Okita. Kagura** and **MrBright01**.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the long wait. Write's block, ugh. I killed myself jk. xD

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

* * *

"I seriously don't think this is a good idea," Inojin grunted, one hand stabilizing his position hanging on the stonewall surrounding the Hidden Sand village. "The sand is getting into my mouth."

"It won't get in your mouth if you stop complaining," Chouchou rolled her eyes, carefully descending down the wall they managed to climbed over to avoid the guards.

"This is bothersome," it was Shikadai's turn to complain.

"Guys, stop complaining," Chouchou finally jumped down to the ground, looking around to make sure no one was there. It was still dark, and the sun was still sleeping but Chouchou could catch the glimpse of Suna ninjas walking around the area. "We need to hurry," she scrambled away from the village, pulling Inojin and Shikadai along with her.

Shikadai had no choice but to follow the Akimichi heir, grumbling as he let the girl pulling the collar of his shirt. "No, I seriously think Inuzuka's sense of smell cannot be deceived by mere distance and perfumes."

"Where are we going?" Inojin asked when he noticed Chouchou walking towards a different direction. "If we're going to get the herbs, we should head south."

"No, didn't you read the pamphlet?" Chouchou exclaimed. "If we want to see more giant centipedes, we should head west."

"But we're supposed to find the herbs."

"We left early to find centipedes!"

"Our mission is to bring back the herbs though."

"No, we can get the herbs after the centipedes."

Shikadai sighed as he ignored the endless argument. "This is so bothersome," he muttered, hands tucking into his pocket as he followed the two.

* * *

Kiba scratched the back of his head, sighing as he scanned the empty bedroom once. Kids were just too troublesome. There was just nothing else he could use to describe the predicament other than the lame Nara-style complaint—troublesome. He sniffed slightly, eyes casting west. Their natural scents were mixed with an exuberant artificial smell that Kiba guessed as perfume. He almost snickered. Did the brats seriously think they could get away and confuse him with perfumes?

"Oh wow, where did the kids go?" Kankurou's voice disturbed Kiba's concentration, cutting off his sense of smell as he turned to the Kazekage's advisor. "Did they go for breakfast already?"

"They left far before breakfast it seems," Kiba shrugged, turning away to exit the room.

"Hasty much?" Kankurou laughed.

"Heading west."

Kankurou's laughter died immediately. "West? Aren't they supposed to head south?"

"For some unknown reason, their smells are heading west. I need to go after them," Kiba almost launched himself out through the window when Kankurou's hand firmly grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait. I'll send reinforcement," Kankurou announced.

"These troublemakers are Genins from Konoha—"

"—And one of them is my nephew," Kankurou cut him off. "I'm sending a troop."

"It might not be that much of a trouble," Kiba reasoned. He might just need to go and scold them and then continue heading south. Another troop wasn't really necessary.

"The west of Suna is the dent of wild desert life," Kankurou shook his head. "Trouble is simply all over each grain of sands there. It's not a place anyone would want to go."

Kiba's stomach lurched at the information. And he had a sick intuition to flee right to the kids in a matter of seconds.

* * *

"This is it? There's practically nothing here," Inojin looked around the vast desert as far as the eyes can see. The horizon seemed so far and it was the first time for Inojin to see such view. "Where's the centipedes?"

"Let's walk a bit more," Chouchou said determined, hand dragging Shikadai's sleeve as the Nara boy grumbled lazily.

"Are we trying to exit Suna from here and be Nukenins?" Inojin asked, walking behind her as well.

"Don't be silly," Chouchou clicked her tongue. "There's a weird thing over there. It's not too far."

"That doesn't look like a centipede dent. It looks like a gazebo," Shikadai said lazily, yawning in the process. And just as the fact slipped his lips was the time Shikadai felt how absurd the situation was. A gazebo? In the middle of a desert? That was... Weird. Why would there be a gazebo here? His eyes squinted, examining the small gazebo, which was just a few feet away from Chouchou and Inojin who were—practically—running towards it. And Shikadai's eyes widened.

"Wait! Chouchou! Inojin! Don't go nearer!" Shikadai's voice shot up a few octaves.

It was too late though, as Chouchou and Inojin already hovered above the unknown object in the small gazebo. It was almost like a soccer ball in size and shape, but smooth in surface and pitch black in color—shining in the glory of the sunshine.

"It's beautiful," Chouchou gasped.

"What the hell is this?" Inojin's impassive eyes scrunched slightly in curiosity.

"A ball?" Chouchou guessed.

"In a place like this?" Inojin reached out a hand, his fingertips tried to touch it.

But right before his fingers reached the object, the ground was shaken, and Inojin and Chouchou had to stabilize themselves as a huge image started to emerge from the sands. Shikadai's eyes widened at the sudden unexpected intrusion. The creature appeared to be thrice their size, with a lion head and a pair of wings.

"A lion?" Inojin gasped.

"Inojin! Chouchou! Get out of there!" Shikadai screamed.

It was too late when the creature swung its paw towards the two and sent them flying two feet above before tumbling back on the ground. Inojin choked, gasping for air.

"Shikadai! Run!" Inojin's hand reached back to pull out his sword, swinging it around to keep the lion away.

"There's no way in hell I would run without you two! Chouchou! Are you alright?" Shikadai started to panic.

The so-called lion started to step towards Inojin and Chouchou, roaring in the air as it pounced fast towards them.

"Don't come nearer!" Inojin swung his sword aimlessly, stepping in front of Chouchou protectively. His face contorted with panic. He wasn't even sure how to wield his sword. His mind wasn't exactly functioning for combat.

Shikadai pulled a set of kunai and started to grudgingly throw them towards the creature. He had aimed it well, but the creature waved its wings and successfully blocked the kunai, which fell unceremoniously.

"Damn it!" Shikadai spat. "What does it want from us?"

The creature shifted, looking towards Shikadai after being distracted from its previous two preys. Shikadai felt chills running down his spine. The lion's eyes seemed so merciless, and he wasn't even sure if they were able to beat it. Forget about centipedes. They might not even return to Konoha alive! So much for a herb-picking mission. Why did he even agree to follow on this bothersome thing anyway?

"Shikadai!" Chouchou yelled, trying to stand on her own.

"Tsk, so bothersome," Shikadai clapped his hands together to form a seal. Just as then, his shadow started to change its shape, trying to capture the shadow of the huge creature. But even after he caught it, Shikadai could feel how the creature shook him, trying to break free from his Kagemane no Jutsu. Gritting his teeth, he tried to hold it much longer.

Just then Inojin jumped behind its back, raising his sword high before plunging it on the creature's back. The creature roared louder, struggling even more at the pain surging behind its back. Wiggling its head, Inojin couldn't bear himself as he fell right in front of it, leaving his sword on its back.

Shikadai groaned, feeling the great strength of pull overwhelming him. "Inojin, run! I can't hold it anymore!" and true enough, his Kagemane no Jutsu broke right after.

The creature roared louder, paw raised as it swatted Chouchou hard, sending her flying towards Shikadai. Its eyes started to glow, head shaking in sheer pain with the sword behind its back. And then it glared at Inojin.

"Inojin, run!"

Inojin tried, pushing himself up with his hands but he couldn't find his footing. And just when the creature raised its paw again to hit the Yamanaka, Shikadai screamed, hands grasping the ground before unconsciously picking up his own shadow and threw it to the creature in the form of a shadow spear. But it was fast enough to slap the shadow spear away before jumping towards Shikadai, ready to give a full-blown attack. And Shikadai could feel panic rushing through his body.

But just before it managed to land on the Nara child, a fast hurricane-like bullet shot through its body, sending it tumbling far away from them. Shikadai, Inojin and Chouchou could feel a sense of relief washing over them as they watched the small hurricane swirl down to a stop on the ground, revealing none other than their Jounin leader.

"Ki-Kiba," Shikadai muttered in surprise.

Kiba's growl was seething with anger. Eyes still sharply trained at the very creature that had tried to kill his fellow teammates. "Don't you dare lay a single finger on them," he warned heavily.

Inojin could feel himself shivering.

"It—it can understand you?" Shikadai's voice was still trembling.

The creature finally stood again, eyes meeting Kiba's in a glare and a growl.

"Seems like it can," Kiba's eyes didn't falter. "It's a ninja animal like Akamaru. They can understand and converse with humans it seems."

It shook its head, trying to relief the pain on its back before roaring again, ready for its next attack. Kiba quickly pulled out a scroll, opening it as he performed a hand seal.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Kiba applied his chakra on the scroll as small explosion appeared with smoke before revealing three ninja dogs. Kiba's fingers fastly formed another hand seal. "Gijyu Ninpo; Shikyaku no Jutsu!" he released his chakra, letting his canines elongate as the jutsu took effect on him.

The creature started to jump, roaring while bearing it claw. And Kiba took the opportunity for his final attack. Crouching with his three dogs, they started to spin and headed towards the creature.

"Inuzuka-ryu; Gatenga!"

The four spinning Inuzukas hit the creature directly in the air, and they clashed for almost around a minute before Kiba and his dogs managed to pierced through the creature, sending it down lifeless on the ground.

Kiba landed with his dogs, eyes trained on the creature, ready if it might be alive. But when he approached it, Kiba knew it was on the verge of death. Its breathing was shallow and it didn't seem to even have enough energy to move a paw. Kiba sighed, sending his dogs back to his scrolls.

"Ki-Kiba..." Chouchou finally muttered after a long silence she probably could no longer bear in her fear.

Kiba panted slightly, approaching the creature as he examined the sword sticking behind it. Carefully, he pulled the sword out with a small whimper from the creature before it finally succumbed to its death. Kiba stared at the sword before shifting his eyes towards the young Yamanaka, and then to the young Nara. "Oi, oi, you've got to be kidding me," he muttered mostly to himself. "The shadow spear just now was a Magnet Release. And now this..." he looked down to the sword again.

"Kiba!"

Kiba turned towards the sound calling his name and he could see a squad with Kankurou and three other sand ninjas running towards them. "Is everyone alright?"

Kiba glared angrily towards the kids. "They seemed to be."

Kankurou sighed in relief before turning towards Shikadai. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he scolded. "You could have died! Have you ever stop to think about Uncle Gaara and I? What would your parents feel if you die here?"

Shikadai bit his lips, looking away from his uncle's prying eyes. Inojin and Chouchou who had finally stood and approached Shikadai glanced at Kiba pleadingly. But their Jounin leader just looked away, walking past them.

"We'll head to Suna to tend to your injuries," Kiba said without looking back at them. "And when we reach Konoha, I'm going to talk to each one of you."

The sternness in Kiba's voice somehow had made the kids coiled back in fear.

* * *

"We certainly did not know the existence of the gazebo," Kankurou rubbed his chin, thinking hard with a frown. "And even if we know the west area is dangerous, that creature had never existed before."

"What is a gazebo doing in the middle of a desert?" Kiba folded his arms on his chest. They were finally back in the Kazekage's office and the kids were out tending to injuries as the adults had their discussions. "And that creature looks like a griffin."

"Griffin?" Gaara's face seemed impassive, even though his voice expressed his curiosity.

"We never had it in the desert before," Kankurou shook his head. "And the small gazebo seems to protect the black object placed in it."

"And to think that I have to use the dogs," Kiba added. "The griffin might not be too strong but strong enough to defeat a Chuunin."

"You used Akamaru?"

"His puppies to be exact," Kiba corrected.

Kankurou's eyebrows rose, a sly grin on his face. "Akamaru bred earlier than you do."

Kiba's face scrunched in annoyance. "Are you trying to pick a fight?"

Kankurou laughed. "You are still bad tempered as before. Chill, dude. I was just joking."

Gaara sighed. "But this is still a pressing matter to be investigated," he concluded. "We need to send a platoon there and see what it is all about."

"I agree."

"Kiba, leave this to Suna. You should head back. Besides, you have a Special Jounin meeting, right?" Gaara offered.

"Yeah, but I think I'll report this to Konoha too," Kiba nodded in agreement.

"Please do," Gaara smiled a bit. "Also, please take care of the kids. Not trying to be biased, but I was genuinely worried about Shikadai."

"Well, forgive me, Your Highness. But your nephew is not escaping my wrath," Kiba grinned teasingly.

Kankurou laughed heartily. "Do as you please. Because even if he is the Kazekage's nephew, he had just disobeyed his leader's order. It's just befitting of him. I'm sure Temari and Shikamaru would say the same."

Gaara sat back with a smile. "More importantly, thank you for protecting them like your own."

Kiba blinked at that. "That's not something you should thank me for. I am their Jounin leader. It is my responsibility now to let them grow healthily."

Or rather, he had grown to be overly protective of them, it seemed.

* * *

Their three days journey to Konoha was awfully quiet. Not even Chouchou dared to grumble about her empty stomach. Kiba was heading forward, and the trio had tailed him obediently, eyes trained on the ground. Not only they had disobeyed their leader, they had also practically failed the mission. Kiba had went to pick the herbs by himself while they were recuperating. And by the time they were able to walk again, Kiba had finished the task and ready to head home. Shikadai barely had the chance to say sorry to his uncles, mumbling a promise that it won't happen again. But none of the three dared to say a word to the very Jounin in front of them now.

Chouchou nudged Shikadai slightly, gesturing towards the oblivious Kiba walking a few feet ahead.

"What?" Shikadai whispered with a frown.

"Try and apologize."

"Me? But it was your idea," Shikadai protested.

"But you were the one who suggested the west."

"I never suggested, I just told you a story about Suna. You were the one who wanted to go."

"Inojin agreed to it too."

"I didn't have anything to do with it."

"Don't try to wash your hands away, Inojin."

"But—"

Kiba's steps halted suddenly right when the Konoha front gate just a few feet ahead of them. And the trio quickly stop, eyes finally looking up at their leader. They almost gulped when Kiba turned to them, and they were very sure they could see anger in his eyes. Kiba folded his arms on his chest, facing them sternly.

"Care to explain what were you three doing way out west at Suna?" Kiba's voice was woven with venom, sending chills down their spine. The trio quickly looked down, not having the courage to meet his eyes.

"We—" Inojin tried, eyes darting everywhere on the ground. "We just wanted to prove to you that we're strong."

"And—" Chouchou added. "And that we can be independent too."

Kiba felt his eyes twitched in annoyance. "And just because of that, you deliberately disobeyed me?"

They flinched slightly.

"You could have been killed! And even worse, you might bring trouble to Suna! Have you ever stop to think the consequences of your own action? Is life that cheap for you to experiment on?" Kiba's voice got louder each word, and the kids flinched even more.

"We're—we're sorry," Shikadai mumbled almost inaudibly.

Kiba wiped a hand across his face, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. "Tell me, what exactly is a shinobi to you?"

"Shinobi is the one who endures," Shikadai said as if reading out a textbook.

"And what exactly is enduring means?" Kiba prodded.

This time, the trio didn't answer. None of them could come up with one. The feeling of guilt kept creeping in, and they almost thought they wouldn't be able to face the world anymore. They were clearly incompetent. They couldn't even take care of themselves. None of them could deny that if Kiba didn't arrive in time, they might have been dead—to an animal nonetheless.

Kiba sighed, rubbing his temples when he sensed the feeling of guilt and inferiority in his teammates. He wondered if Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai and late Asuma had to face the same problem. He wondered if Shino had been facing this over and over again. The responsibility to show the kids what life is all about. Kiba could feel his heart breaking.

"Follow me. We're going somewhere now," he instructed. And the kids did not have to think twice to follow.

* * *

They arrived at the Konoha Memorial. As the three wordlessly tailed behind their Jounin leader, they looked around the tombstones arranged beautifully on the ground. Some of the tombstones had fresh flowers, which Inojin recognized from his mother's flower shop. Shikadai frowned a bit when Kiba finally stop in front of one of the tombstones. They followed suit and stopped by his side.

"Who's grave is this, Kiba?" Inojin finally asked. "Why are we here?"

"You told me just now, right? Shinobi is one who endures," Kiba looked down at the tombstone, letting the familiar pain over years ago gripping the edge of his heart. "We endure from the harsh life. And when we say endure, it meant we are struggling. We're not strong. We're not independent. Not me. And certainly not the Hokage either."

"But—" Chouchou looked up to him. "You are strong enough to beat that lion. And the Seventh Hokage is definitely too strong that no one can defeat him."

"Do you remember my test when we first met?" Kiba asked. And the three of them nodded.

"Do you remember the rules?"

"Of course. You put some ridiculous rules saying one of us will fail, and we can kill each other, and if one of us failed to reach the top, we will all fail," Chouchou mumbled with a small pout.

Kiba nodded. "And that is life."

This time, the three looked up cluelessly.

"In life, not everyone pass. Each and every shinobi has a dream. We all tried our best to climb the obstacle to achieve it. We trained and go for missions to sharpen our skills. But there are times when someone had to sacrifice for the sake of the people they want to protect. They gave their lives away to give way to other people's dreams. Just like all these people lying here," Kiba explained, eyes still on the carvings of the tombstone. "We are not, in the slightest, strong nor independent. In fact, we depended on each other so damn much that it hurts. It hurts that we are so weak that we weren't able to protect them."

Shikadai, Inojin and Chouchou finally looked around them—the tombstones of the Konoha warrior who had fell down in countless battles. And then they could finally understand the feeling of lost. These are the people who had helped building Konoha to what it is now. The people whom Shikadai knew he wouldn't be able to save with mere Choju Giga, Bubun Baika no Jutsu and Kagemane no Jutsu.

"This grave," Kiba continued, staring at the same tombstone since a while now. "Belongs to a dear friend of mine. A dear friend of the Seventh, and a dear friend of all your parents too."

"This?" Shikadai finally looked at the said tombstone, reading the name.

"Hyuuga Neji," Kiba nodded. "He had his own dreams, his own visions. He was strong and dependable. But he died for us. To give way to Konoha. To protect the Seventh and to make way for our dreams."

"He did?" Chouchou's eyes widened, partly surprised that the Seventh she respected so much also needed some degree of protection.

"Listen. Your life is not just your own. You don't go around throwing it away carelessly," Kiba added. "You use it to protect your dreams and honor. You use it to protect those important to you. And just like the test I gave you, when one of you had to give way to the others, don't leave them behind. Bring them with you to success. Because we are shinobi. We are not strong, nor independent. We are just a bunch of people who endure."

The new Ino-Shika-Chou generation finally seemed to get where he was heading. Biting their lips as their guilt eating up their left over conscience. They had taken their lives for granted—that very life that people had died protecting.

"Neji had died to let your parents and the Hokage live, leaving behind his dreams and honor. It was him that made your existence possible. The village will bring him and the rest together with us in the success of the village, which is why this memorial existed. Do not ever leave them behind," Kiba finally closed his eyes to concentrate. "Everyone, pray for Neji."

And the kids concurred, closing their eyes and clasped their hands together in silent prayer.

Kiba dwelled in his prayer for a minute or two. Images of the times when Neji was alive were still fresh in his mind. They didn't really started in good term. In fact, he was ready to kill Neji just to protect Hinata. It was funny how an idiot like Naruto could change the dynamic of their relationship so fast that the next thing he knew, he wouldn't even mind letting Neji riding behind Akamaru's back. It still hurt him. He should've noticed how exhausted Neji was when he rode Akamaru's back. He was definitely not in any shape to fight. Kiba should have known. And yet he had failed a friend. He was in the same division with Neji in the war yet he did not notice. Perhaps if he noticed earlier, he could have asked Sakura or Ino to give more attention to Neji. Perhaps if he noticed earlier, Neji could have recovered his chakra and execute a Kaiten instead. Perhaps Neji shouldn't have died.

But it had been years. And right now, no amount of 'perhaps' would condone to that.

* * *

 **A/N:** Again, sorry for the super late update. I kinda had writer's block at the fighting part. But this is a story that I really take interest in. Because I really love Konoha 11 including Sai so I guess this kinda like my favorite daydream LOL. Anyway, thanks to those who reviewed, followed and favorited this story, especially; **rainyrhapsody,** **Lock on Lockon** and the **unnamed Guest**.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

Kiba sighed, scratching the back of his head as he climbed the stairs of the Hokage office. He had offered to report the mission to the Hokage alone and asked the kids to rest at home so that they can get well soon from their injuries. They needed to recuperate after the tiring journey of emotional and physical stress. Also, he wanted to be alone with Naruto and Shikamaru later. That gazebo in Suna sounded eerily familiar and somehow troubled him. He was pretty damn sure the thing Sai saw at the Land of Lightning was in a gazebo too.

"Come in," he heard his friend's voice from inside when he knocked on the door of the Hokage office. Kiba stepped in, approaching Naruto and Shikamaru behind the desk.

"Welcome back, Kiba," another occupant of the room greeted him with a huge smile.

"Yo. Haven't seen you for a long time, Sakura," Kiba waved a hand. "I got your herbs with me," he casually placed the bag on Naruto's table.

"Finally. It sure took you a long time. You kept us waiting," Naruto raised his brows, looking at the bag and then to his friend.

"Yeah, well," Kiba drawled. "Certain brats dragged me down a bit."

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, Gaara told me about it. You can submit the full report to me later then. I wanted to hold the special Jounin meeting as soon as possible. Shikamaru, call the others here now."

"Is something happening?" Sakura asked.

"You'll know," Shikamaru answered instead, picking his phone to send urgent summon to his friends.

"Sounds dangerous," Sakura pursed her lips in amusement.

"I have a bad feeling about it," Naruto nodded, pulling out a few papers to spread over his desk. "It started with this mission Sai had been taking. But we're lacking information."

"What's with the mission?" Sakura queried again.

"We'll wait for the others to come. It'll save my time explaining. Which is—" Naruto smirked as he sensed a number of ninjas approaching fast before the room suddenly occupied. "—now."

Shikamaru chuckled. "That was fast."

"How are you feeling, my friends of youth? We have not gather for some time! It was such a waste to our precious time!" the Konoha green beast cheered enthusiastically.

"You called?" Shino stood calmly.

"Oh, hi. Everyone are here," Sai greeted with his trademark smile. "And here I thought it was an ANBU thing."

"This might probably be too much for only ANBU to handle," Naruto shook his head, expression turned serious before looking down on the papers. "Recently Sasuke had reported sporadic emerging of huge chakra which would disappear once he got closer. It was a little absurd to me so I asked him to point one general place and sent Sai there to investigate. Weird enough, Sai managed to find the chakra source, but it wasn't a living being. It came from a ball-like object."

"Object?"

"Yes," Sai nodded, pulling out a scroll. "I drew it to make it easier for you to imagine," he spread the scroll open, revealing his flawless drawing of the gazebo and the black ball he saw in his previous mission. "It stored chakra probably five times more than normal ninjas."

"Five times?" Tenten's eyes widened at the information. "Doesn't that sound like a ninja tool?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," Sai nodded.

"But why can't Sasuke-kun find it if Sai can?" Ino asked curiously.

"I've been wondering about that too. Something is just not quite right here," Naruto pondered.

"Speaking of which, I just came back from a D-rank mission at Sunagakure," Kiba interrupted.

"Yeah, we didn't ask," Shino's tone was flat as if no sarcasm intended.

"Shi—Shino-kun..." Hinata quickly swatted Shino's arm.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Obviously it has something to do with this, idiot."

"It does?" Naruto looked up at Kiba.

"I discovered another one looking exactly like that," Kiba pointed towards Sai's drawing.

"What?!"

"Does it hold as much chakra as the one Sai saw?" Tenten asked seemingly more interested.

"The chakra storage was not that overwhelming though," Kiba shrugged.

"I thought you went to Sunagakure to pick our herbs," Ino frowned.

"Well, thanks to your kids, we were distracted by some unnecessary trouble," Kiba chuckled. "Somehow they wanted to test their strength and went to find the desert wild life. Ended up being beaten by a griffin and I had to go and rescue them."

"Griffins exist?" Chouji blinked.

"They don't," Temari interrupted. "Wait, Suna doesn't have griffins around. They don't exist."

"That's what your brothers told me," Kiba nodded. "Unfortunately, that wasn't the case now."

"Is this griffin happened to be near the gazebo as well?" Naruto asked.

"Accurately, yes."

Naruto turned to Shikamaru, sending a meaningful curious look. "What do you think?"

"Looks like things are connecting together," Shikamaru pulled out a blank paper, swiftly scribbling something down. "This is classified as a highly secret mission of Konoha. I'm forming two troops and two village standbys now," he muttered, passing the paper to Naruto who took it gingerly. "We have four main things to do."

Naruto grinned upon reading the list. "Perfect teaming. Thanks, Shikamaru," he looked up to his friends again. "Sakura, Kiba, Temari, Lee. One power driven shinobi, one tactical type, one sensory type and one medical ninja. The four of you will form a team," Naruto ordered. "You'll go to Suna and investigate about this. Temari will be in charge with the political negotiation with Sunagakure. Report to me as soon as there is any relevant development."

"Roger!" Sakura, Kiba, Temari and Lee choired.

"Hinata, Shino, Chouji, Sai. Two sensory shinobi, one power driven and one tactical shinobi. The four of you will be the second team. Go to the Land of Lightning to retrieve the sealed chakra-filled ball. Chouji, you'll be in charge of the negotiation with the Land of Lightning and Kumogakure. Before we figure anything out, keep the information as minimal as possible."

"Roger!" Shino, Chouji, Sai and Hinata answered in sync.

"Tenten, I want you to investigate about these chakra-filled balls. I'll leave you out of any missions for the time being."

"Roger!" Tenten nodded in determination before approaching Naruto's desk, taking Sai's scroll in her hand. "I'll be borrowing this drawing for a while, Sai."

"Please do," Sai gave her his usual smile.

"And lastly, just a while ago, Sasuke sent back a souvenir. Ino, I want you to take care of it," Naruto casted a glance towards Ino.

"Me?" Ino blinked in confusion.

"Yeah. Remember Kiba said there was a mystical creature near the gazebo? Apparently, Sasuke saw one near the gazebo Sai found and sent it back as a souvenir. It seems to be an intellectual creature."

Ino smirked before adding herself. "And you want me to interrogate."

* * *

Chouchou sighed, fingers twirling a kunai continuously. Her eyes were looking distantly passed the numerous trees in the forest. Konoha training ground had been as calm as usual. A flock of birds were chirping and flying across the vast sky, cutting through the soft wind. Chouchou wondered if this was exactly the scenery when her father was training as a child thirty years ago. Has anything ever changed?

The sound of footsteps approaching her brought Chouchou back to earth. Pulling out a kunai, Chouchou jumped back into her fighting stance. "Who's there?"

"It's just me."

Chouchou squinted, staring at the boy who finally appeared from behind a tree. "Mitsuki. What are you doing here?"

"I had just completed a mission. I was thinking about taking a stroll along the forest when I found you here," Mitsuki shrugged, resting a hand on his hip leisurely.

"Oh," Chouchou relaxed, slipping her kunai back into her pouch. "I'm sort if I interrupted your routine."

"Nah. Nothing is wrong with having someone accompanying you once in a while," Mitsuki grinned, waving his free hand dismissively.

Chouchou sighed, looking away from him. "Yeah, I guess so."

Mitsuki's grin faltered, eyes staring at the Akimichi heir. "Is something wrong?"

"Hm?"

"It's not like you to be looking so depressed and distracted," Mitsuki clarified.

Chouchou stared far into the forest, thinking of the chain of events. It was still clear in her mind when the griffin appeared to attack them. She remembered her panic and her tears. She remembered her struggle to run—she remembered every single details. "Even when we were still in school, Mitsuki has always been an excellent ninja, right?"

Mitsuki blinked in confusion. "Where did this come from?"

"You always know everything. You are always calm. You just know how to act and respond. You are almost like a perfect shinobi," Chouchou mumbled on, still looking away as if she was talking to herself.

"And I'm asking you, where did this come from?" Mitsuki almost groaned when he felt ignored.

"We were attacked during our previous mission."

"What?" Mitsuki was taken aback. "I thought we're not allowed to take a C-rank mission yet. It's still too early. We just graduated."

"It wasn't," Chouchou shook her head as she let out another sigh. "It was a D-rank mission. But we were attacked because of my selfish want."

Mitsuki stared at her. He didn't dare to comment at that moment. Somehow, Chouchou's words were enough to tell that her depression was unusual. And he definitely didn't want to make things worse. She had been out of her rhythm since the moment he saw her alone in the forest. Chouchou wasn't the type to feel down. She was confident and positive whom always looking forward to adventures. And this just confirmed to him that something had gone wrong.

"It's excruciating. But even if the whole incident was my fault, I was the most unreliable one," Chouchou's hands fisted tightly in her frustration. "I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save them. Even when Shikadai and Inojin fought their hardest, I couldn't even stand! I'm so damn weak! At this rate, I don't even know if I really am an Akimichi."

Mitsuki was amused in his silence. Not too long ago, Chouchou thought she wasn't an Akimichi because she felt she didn't look like one. And right now, she doubted her ancestry because she felt she wasn't strong enough to be one. She had caught his interest multiple times, and even if he knew it wasn't the time to be amused, he wondered if Chouchou was feeling inferior with her identity.

"You're having an identity crisis," Mitsuki said with a definite tone. "You always had a problem to establish your sense of self."

Chouchou glared at him. "Hey, Mr Know-It-All, you still lack some manners. You still don't know the first thing about the delicate sensitive heart of a woman."

Mitsuki laughed. "Well, that sounds more like you," he shrugged. "Sometimes even when you do know who your parents is, you would have to live up to their reputations. And sometimes, they were the one who didn't live up to your hope. You would wish you didn't know instead."

His voice was wavering at the end that Chouchou couldn't help but to take a closer look at him.

"What was that? You wish you don't know your parents?" Chouchou asked curiously.

Mitsuki smiled, trying to divert the topic. "Well, if you don't feel like Akimichi, then just be Chouchou. Wouldn't that be great? We live at our own pace. So don't compare yourself to others. You walk one step at a time, and in your own pace, finally you will reach your destination!"

"Mitsuki—"

"Don't worry too much about it. You'll be fine," Mitsuki patted her shoulder a few times before waving. "I'll have to go now. I'll see you soon," and he jumped off before disappearing behind the trees.

Chouchou stood there perplexed, eyes blinking a few times before sighing. "Now you're the one who didn't sound like yourself."

* * *

"Shikamaru."

Shikamaru halted his steps down the Hokage's building stairs, turning back when he heard someone calling his name. "Kiba. What's wrong?"

Kiba approached his friend, hands tucking into his side pockets. "You've been training Shikadai, right?"

"The basics, yes," Shikamaru nodded. "Why?"

"Does he have any genetic ability?"

"Shikamaru frowned. "What do you mean?"

"When I was chasing after the kids at Suna, there are some abilities I sensed from the kids. They were clumsy but they definitely have them," Kiba began. "And I was very sure Shikadai had used a Kagemane technique with Magnet Release."

"Magnet Release?" Shikamaru's brows rose. "Don't be silly. He doesn't have that."

"He manipulated the shadow off the ground and shaped it into a spear at his own will. I'm sure I'm not mistaken," Kiba shook his head. "I think he had it in him, but was not discovered. I was wondering if you would like to discuss this with Temari."

Shikamaru frowned again, as if trying to put up with the logic. Temari's blood is running in Shikadai's vein. It wasn't totally impossible, now that he think about it. "I'll talk to Temari. Are you coming along?"

"Nah," Kiba grinned. "You talk to your wife. I have another boy I need to tend to at the moment."

"Another boy?"

* * *

Inojin sat back at the bench beside the Konoha streets. Kiba had asked him to wait there while he went to report their mission at the Hokage's office. But it had been hours and Inojin started to feel bored. He looked down at his scroll on his lap. He had drawn the Konoha scenery in front of him while waiting. It looked blotchy, and Inojin gave up on it. His drawing skills were still mediocre it seemed.

"Yo," Kiba greeted, jumping down from the trees he hopped on.

"You're late," Inojin said flatly, looking up at his team leader.

"Sorry about that," Kiba chuckled. "I thought I would just be sending in the report. But I suddenly had a meeting right after. Duties call. Don't be so mad about it. Let's go."

"Where are we going? Why am I the only one coming?" Inojin quickly got up and ran following the Inuzuka head.

"Because the others don't have anything to do with this," Kiba answered, walking forward to a destination unknown to Inojin.

"Why don't they?"

"You'll know."

Inojin tilted his head questioningly, clearly not satisfied with the answer. But he continued to follow Kiba anyway. The journey wasn't all that long when they finally reached a store. Inojin blinked when Kiba entered the building.

"Why are we coming to a weapon store? Are we running out of weapons?" Inojin asked again.

"Just come with me," Kiba gestured the boy in which Inojin complied.

"Welcome to Konoha Weapon Store! Sorry, we just opened, I had an errand at the Hokage's office just now—" the kunoichi paused when she saw her two guests. "Kiba!"

Kiba grinned, waving at her. "Hey, Tenten."

"It's been a while since you came here," Tenten cheered. "What's wrong? Are you running out of kunai or shuriken?"

"Nah, I'm here for a special weapon," Kiba looked back at the Yamanaka heir.

"Special weapon?"

"You know him right?" Kiba gestured at Inojin.

"Hi," Inojin greeted. "You're the weapon freak my father had been talking about."

"Oi!" Kiba glared at him.

Tenten chuckled. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Then, why are you bringing Inojin here?"

"Remember about my mission I talked about in the meeting?"

"Of course," Tenten nodded, careful not to spill too much information.

"I figured something about Inojin while they were fighting."

"Me?" Inojin looked up at his leader.

"At one point when they were fighting the griffin, he plunged a sword on its back," Kiba continued.

"That didn't kill it, though," Inojin noted.

"It continuously inflict pain on the griffin which significantly reduced its strength," Kiba ignored the boy.

"Continuously?"

"I felt it was weird when I was fighting the griffin. And then when I pulled out the sword, I finally find out something unique," Kiba continued. "The sword was enhanced with some kind of weird chakra. Inojin must have planted some chakra in it while he was holding it in panic."

"A sword enhanced with chakra?" Tenten raised a brow with interest.

"Not just any chakra. I was wondering what it was myself too," Kiba nodded. "And I was wondering—"

"—If I could do something about it," Tenten cut him off.

"Exactly," Kiba nodded.

"What? What is this all about?" Inojin felt loss in the conversation.

"Leave it to me. Inojin will get his power optimized soon," Tenten smirked before turning at the said boy. "Well, kiddo, come with me. I'm going to have a closer look at you."

"Uh... Okay?" Inojin blinked, backing away a bit as Tenten crouched to look at him.

Inojin still didn't understand what he should expect from this.

* * *

 **TBC**

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks, **Lock on Lockon** , I'm glad you loved the scene at Neji's grave. I did gave a long thought about that scene and the significant with their first exam with Kiba. We are now escalating to their character development and later their real adventure. Also, thanks to those who had reviewed, followed and favorited the story. You are very much appreciated. Thank you!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

* * *

Ino walked in the Intelligent Division prison, nodding to the ANBUs bowing at her as she passed by approaching a certain cell. She looked down at the human-like bird growling inside. Those eyes were glaring angrily at her, but it didn't seem to talk. She sighed, resting a hand on her hip.

"Sasuke-kun really sent me an ugly souvenir. Does he not know that I love beautiful things?" she joked, lips curling into a smirk as she glared back down at the creature.

It scowled at her. And Ino could feel that it somehow knew that she insulted it.

"Does it understand us?" Ino asked.

"It seems to, but it never responded," answered the guard. "But it obeyed simple gestures we asked."

Ino bit her lower lip in her thought. "It either speaks different language than us, or it was thinking we are too low and not worth responding."

"Not worth responding? What do you mean?"

Ino waved her hand dismissively. "Yamanaka's logic. Don't mind me," she turned to leave. "We'll be starting in two or three days. Prepare its strains. And feed it well," she paused, glancing back slightly. "It'll vomit them all soon."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Tamaki sat up when she heard the door slid open, dabbing her hands clean with a cloth. She immediately smiled when she saw her boyfriend walking in. "Welcome home, Kiba."

Kiba looked up, taking off his jacket as he smiled. "Thanks. I'm back."

"You were gone for almost two weeks. And the puppies were summoned a week ago," Tamaki quickly approached him, taking his jacket to hang it later. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah, well, my teammates went out to search for troubles and I ended up needing to save them," Kiba said, approaching his backyard before crouching in front of Akamaru and his three pups. "Thank you, guys. I owe you one," he grinned, rubbing their heads lovingly.

"That aside, aren't you supposed to name that jutsu differently? It's not exactly the normal Kuchiyose no jutsu, isn't it?" Tamaki wrung his jacket a bit before hanging it up by the wall.

"The hand seals are the same," Kiba sat down, pulling one pup into his lap. "The only difference is the chakra pouring. If you ask me, I'd rather say it's the same jutsu but Inuzuka style. Should I call it Inuzuka-ryu; Kuchiyose then?"

Tamaki chuckled. "Well, go and take a shower. I already prepared some dinner. You're back quite late today."

"Yeah, well, I'll be going out of Konoha again in two days."

"Again?" Tamaki looked surprised. "Aren't you being a bit too busy?"

"I guess so," Kiba shrugged. "The world might probably never remain in peace. I'll be going to Suna again. There're things we need to investigate."

Tamaki watched how some of their cats climbed on Kiba's lap as well, and Kiba patted them gently. Kiba wasn't the type to tell her about his missions in details. She didn't mind either way. It wasn't her business after all. But his statement sure sounded trouble. "Tell me if I can help anything," she finally said.

Kiba grinned at her playfully. "Take good care of my dogs. You have no idea how much that helps."

* * *

Shikadai sighed, resting his arms behind his head as he stared up his bedroom ceiling. He messed up big time in this mission. He wasn't able to protect his comrades and that fact somehow irked him. He needed to step up. But how? Raising his hand up, he stared at his palm. If only he could possess some kind of technique that can save his friends, he wouldn't mind even if it actually takes up his life.

"Shikadai."

Shikadai immediately turned his head towards his bedroom door. It was closed, but he knew the voice behind it. "Yes, mom?"

"Come out for a second. You and us need to talk."

Shikadai blinked, sitting up lazily. "Okay."

By the time Shikadai reached the living area, he saw Temari and Shikamaru already sitting at one side of the table. He sighed. It was such a bothersome thing to do, but he needed to face his parents somehow. Slowly, he sat opposite of them, looking down impassively.

"Kiba told us about what happened," Temari began. "Do you have anything to say about that?"

"Sorry," Shikadai mumbled. Temari gripped the fabric of her skirt, desperately holding back a yell at her only son.

Shikamaru sighed, glancing at his wife's fisted hands before looking back at his son. "Did Kiba scold you properly?"

Shikadai looked down in silence for a few seconds before answering, "He brought us to Konoha Memorial and lectured us."

"I believe that's good enough," Shikamaru nodded.

"Oi, Shikamaru," Temari shot him a warning glare.

"Temari, life is not just all about doing the right things," Shikamaru shook his head. "It's also about doing the wrong thing but learn from it," he stared back at the child. "And I believe he had properly reflected on his actions."

Shikadai nodded slightly, still looking down on the floor. "Mom, Dad, I want to train more; in techniques and intelligence. I want to be wiser... stronger... so that I can protect those important to me. I don't care about the ranks and reputations. I just want people to be safe."

Temari raised her brows at her son's hearty confession. She didn't know what Kiba had told the kids at the memorial, but whatever it was, it clearly touched her son. She glanced at Shikamaru who flashed her a soft smile.

"Your mom is going to Suna in two days. Why don't you follow her there then?" Shikamaru suggested.

"Eh?" Temari and Shikadai choired, both turning to look at Shikamaru in surprise.

"I'm going for a mission. Why must he come with me?" Temari argued.

"I'm not asking him to follow your mission. I'm just asking you to take him there," Shikamaru reasoned.

"But why?"

"There's more in you, Shikadai. You've spent a massive amount of time in Konoha, so now go and search for yourself in Suna. It's part of you that you need to learn to be whole," Shikamaru explained.

Shikadai and Temari was left speechless, but both finally agreed.

* * *

"What was that all about?"

"Huh?" Shikamaru tied his robe before slipping under his blanket.

"Why the sudden interest at sending him to Suna?" Temari reiterated.

"Oh, that," Shikamaru shifted a bit to make himself comfortable. "Kiba came to me and talked about his Magnet Release talent."

"Magnet Release? He has that?" Temari propped her body up on her elbow, peeking into her husband's face.

"Apparently it was such a brief moment. And well, if you talk about Magnet Release, honestly I don't know how I should go about it," Shikamaru shrugged.

"So you want him to meet Gaara and Kankurou?"

Shikamaru looked at his wife. "Don't be offended. If it was purely Magnet Release, I would have just let you handle it."

Temari puffed her cheeks, sulking. "I'm not offended."

Shikamaru chuckled at her reaction. "I want him to experience Magnet Release in Suna. Because that's the origin of the jutsu. I think the fact that he only showed the technique in Suna is probably a sign that he was affected by the surroundings. And coincidentally you are going there so it was a perfect chance."

"What do you want us to do?"

"Train him everything to know at Suna, and I'll train him everything he needs to know about Konoha. He has my blood, and he has your blood as well. If played well, he can surpass us at anytime he wanted," Shikamaru smiled encouragingly.

And Temari grinned. "Of course. Leave it to me."

* * *

Inojin wasn't sure what to expect from these regular visits. He was still sitting there doing nothing with his palm being stared at like a fortune telling rituals and it had been that way since the past two days. Inojin started to yawn.

"Ano," he started hesitantly. "Are you just going to stare at my hand?"

Tenten who had been concentrating in observing his palm finally looked up to the child. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"It had been two days and all you've been doing is staring at my hand. How is that relevant?" Inojin complained with a straight face, which somehow reminded Tenten of someone.

She laughed. "Staring at your hand is important, Inojin-kun. The size of your hand, the flexion of your fingers, the curve of your palm, your chakra points; everything contribute to how the sword fit in your grip. Of course, I'm no Hyuuga. I wouldn't be able to see your chakra points literally. But I can see through the other features of your hand."

Inojin scratched the back of his head with his free left hand. "I don't understand."

"You don't have to," Tenten giggled. "All you have to do is stay quiet and let me do my job," her voice sounded playful as her eyes went back to his palm.

"Tenten-sama!" a chuunin-clad kunoichi barged in the weapon shop.

"What?" Tenten looked up, slightly annoyed at the intrusion.

"The two Special Jounin teams are departing now at Konoha main gate!"

"Eh" Tenten blinked as the information dawned on her. "Oh shit! I forgot!" she scrambled up.

* * *

"Then, I leave everything to you guys," Naruto nodded towards his friends.

"Shikadai-san! We're going to reach Suna in a day! Give it your all!" Lee cheered in excitement.

"It would take three days to reach Suna, Lee. Stop giving the kid ideas," Kiba scolded.

"Ah, it's fine. I'm not that stupid to believe that," Shikadai quickly waved his hand dismissively.

Kiba laughed. "As expected from my subordinate!"

"Is it really fine to bring Shikadai-san along?" Hinata looked a bit worried.

"He'll be fine," Temari pulled up her hoodie, ready to leave. "He's with me after all."

Hinata smiled knowingly. "Well, we'll leave the village to you."

"Don't worry about us," Ino nodded. "Seventh, Shikamaru and I can manage this much. Tenten is late, but I'm sure she's in."

Sakura turned to her friend. "Ino, if you get anything from Sasuke-kun's souvenir—"

"I'll be sure the information wouldn't go to waste, Sakura. Count on me. I don't waste a nakama's effort," Ino reassured her.

And Sakura smiled, nodding before pulling up her own hoodie. "Thank you. And take care of the hospital."

"Well, then. Shino, you're the team leader for the team leading to Kumo. And Sakura will be the team leader for the one to Suna. You can dispatch now," Shikamaru ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

"Wait!"

They immediately turned their heads towards the new voice.

"Sorry, I'm late," Tenten trotted towards them breathlessly with Inojin in tow.

"It's okay. You're not that important anyway," Kiba teased.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Tenten yelled in annoyance.

"We're leaving already, anyway. Take care if Inojin for me," Sai said.

"I would want more information relay to me regarding the black ball. Can you guys do it?" Tenten quickly said before the leave.

"What kind of information?"

"Anything," Tenten steeled herself. "There is a possibility that this ball might be harmful even without a user. It's definitely not an ordinary weapon."

"Got it."

And then the nine ninjas disappeared. And Tenten finally caught her breath.

"Shikadai went with them too?" Inojin looked up at the four remaining adults.

"He's going to meet the Kazekage and Kankurou for training," Shikamaru nodded. "He wanted to improve himself to protect his friends."

Inojin gaped, looking forward to where Shikadai had disappeared. Shikadai had been thinking about it thoroughly. And here he was, doing nothing. He needed to step up too. But he didn't even know his strong point. How can he move forward with that?

"Inojin."

He looked up to see Ino smiling at him. "You'll be fine. You and Shikadai are different. You can go at it at your own pace."

"All you need to do is let me see your hand," Tenten nodded in confidence.

Naruto laughed. "Brings back old memories to when we were young, don't it?"

"Eww, no," Ino scrunched her face in disgust. "You were the only crazy one those days."

* * *

"Sarada!"

"Chouchou!" Sarada cheered at the appearance of her best friend, standing up from her sitting spot on a rooftop. "I haven't seen you for a long time."

"Yeah. I've been reflecting," Chouchou smiled apologetically.

"Reflecting?"

"She made a mistake in her previous mission," Mitsuki said, looking up from his video game.

"Ah! Mitsuki, you suck! You're worse than Shikadai and Inojin!" Boruto slapped his forehead, putting down his video game when they finally lost.

"Well, obviously because I never played this before," Mitsuki shrugged. "Where're they anyway?"

"Shikadai went to Suna. Inojin is here though, but he seemed busy," Chouchou answered with a frown.

"Our parents had been busy somehow too. Your team is put in a temporary hiatus at the moment right?" Sarada glanced at the Akimichi heir.

"Seventh said he might appoint us a new leader while Kiba-sensei is away," Chouchou nodded. "But we don't know who yet."

"That sounds serious."

"Anyway, I'm leaving now," Mitsuki stood up. "Your parents are busy, but our team had been rather free the past two days, don't you think?"

"Konohamaru-sensei might just be perverting around," Sarada rolled her eyes.

"Too bad. And here I thought we could go out for some mission," Mitsuki sighed.

"Why? Are you up to something outside?" Boruto perked up in anticipation.

"Nah, the things I search for is not anywhere near. Well, I'll see you guys later then," Mitsuki waved before leaving down the street.

Chouchou watched the guy disappearing between people before turning back to Sarada and Boruto. "Is Mitsuki doing good?"

"He's annoying as always," Sarada nodded.

"Only to you. We're good buddies," Boruto snorted.

"I see," Chouchou pursed her lips. Surely, Mitsuki wouldn't show his internal struggles to other people, no?

* * *

The night was rather quiet. Konoha was always dead after 10 at night. The only ones left were some ninja patrols lingering around the border for safety. Mitsuki hid behind a tree as he stared at the guards near the main gate. They were resting somehow, and he waited until they snoozed off before sneaking out stealthily. Speeding ahead a few more meters, Mitsuki looked back just in case if he was followed.

"I'm safe," he sighed in relief when he thought no one was following.

"From what?"

Mitsuki whipped around at the voice, just to meet the eyes of his own jounin leader. "K-Konohamaru-sensei."

"Why are you crouching around? Do you expect the Jounin wouldn't find you? Did you seriously think you passed through the guards unnoticed?" Konohamaru stared at him pointedly.

"I was just planning to walk around."

"At ten during the night?"

"It's not a faraway place."

"Where is that?"

Mitsuki chewed his lower lip at the last question. "It's my childhood playground."

Konohamaru raised his brows. "You're being strangely sentimental."

"When I heard Shikadai had left, I wanted to confirm something."

"Childhood memories?" Konohamaru guessed, and Mitsuki simply nodded. "Well then, fine. Do you want me to go with you?"

Mitsuki shook his head. "It's not a dangerous place."

"Hmm," Konohamaru hummed. "Unfortunately, we can't let you go by your own," he shook his head. "Someone must go with you to make sure you don't go too far beyond the Nukenin border."

Mitsuki's eyes widened slightly, looking down in silence.

"You can choose your companion. Any ranks will do as long as that person can immediately inform us if something shady happen. You want me? Or someone else?" Konohamaru grinned slightly, almost confident that Mitsuki would have picked him.

"Am I not trusted that much?" Mitsuki mumbled lowly. Was it because of his parent? Or was it Konoha's rule in general?

"That's not the point—"

"Then I'll go with him."

Konohamaru and Mitsuki blinked, turning back a few feet behind them.

"Chouchou—"

"You only need someone to report back, right, sensei?" Chouchou grinned.

"Are you trying to cause trouble again? Have you forgotten what Kiba-senpai told you?" Konohamaru protested.

"What did Kiba-sensei tell me?" Chouchou played innocent.

"Don't act stupid. The rumor had go around the village already—"

"Ah, so it was a rumor," Chouchou chuckled. "I was wondering how the hell did you know. Jounins who are not Special Jounins really are a few notch lower."

"What?!"

"It's fine, right, sensei? I'll go with Mitsuki, and report back to Seventh about everything," Chouchou repeated. "After all, I am a loyal fan of the Seventh. I'm the best candidate who wouldn't betray him."

Konohamaru gritted his teeth, holding back his own anger at how intimidating this kid had been. Somehow, she didn't seem to be so stupid for a Genin level. "Very well," he relented. "I'll let the Seventh know."

Chouchou smirked, looking at Mitsuki in approval.

"But with one condition."

"Eh?" Chouchou whined.

"Don't complain. I just want to send a more senior Genin with you, just in case," Konohamaru said reproachfully.

"But that's not what you promised!" Chouchou frowned.

"I'm kind enough to pick a Genin, so be grateful. I'll call him now," Konohamaru took out his phone and started to dial some numbers.

Mitsuki would have been grateful with the help, but he really wished he could go alone. He wasn't the anti-social type, but this is the kind of trip he wouldn't want to reveal to anyone.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry about the late update. But I finally able to write this. Hopefully I still get the flow of writing this story. Thank you for those who reviewed, favorited and followed the story, esp: **Lock on Lockon, fanofthisfiction, Friendshipper** and the **unnamed Guest**.


End file.
